On Demon's Wings
by PaperSky95
Summary: A year after Koku Yoku is sealed away Daisuke wishes for Dark to come back. And who comes to answer his problems? Why, the Millennium Earl of course!
1. Prolouge

Note: This story shall be special to me, this chapter in particular. It's the first thing I've written since moving to Canada :D. I've been in a slump since I got here but then I was hit by the DGM inspiration. OH and I haven't read/watched DNAngel in a while so correct me if i'm wrong in anything plz.

**PROLOUGE : SOUL**

_Lost soul, cursed life, shadows soaring; the devil's master grins in darkness._

_But new hope gives life new meaning; under my wings, love's sweet caress._

_**************  
_

_Web of lies, mask of innocence, child of prophecy; my destiny paves a path to abolish heresy._

_In my future stands the Earl of Millenium; my symphony, will turn back his pendulum_

Everything was wrong. He thought he could live without him. That maybe life would go back to the way they were. Daisuke Niwa had lived once without wings, magic and Kaitou Dark. But his world had been changed; there was nothing he could do about it.

Hands running through his crimson hair in frustration, the young teen sat in his basement, where the fruit of his previous work was stored. He was surrounded by artworks, from statues to paintings to artefacts. Every one of them brought back a memory of the thrill of the heist...and along with it the sorrow of his loss.

Today marked the anniversary of Dark's disappearance from the world. A full year ago, he had been sealed away in the Koku Yoku and all Daisuke had to remember him by were these artworks and a tiny shard of the Black Wings that had been both Dark's cradle and his grave.

_But was he really alive?_ Daisuke thought to himself, as he stared at the black-purple shard strung through a necklace. _If he was always just a curse that was put on the Niwas, did he really have a soul?_ The red head shook his head and cleared his mind. _Of course he had a soul. He had emotions. He felt pain like everyone else I know. He was more than just a curse, he was my other half._

And as Daisuke came to this epiphany, a strong and fervent wish came to his mind. He closed his ruby red eyes and sighed, "I wish he had never died."

"Wouldn't it be wonderful if he really hadn't~?"

Daisuke snapped his head up to the source of the eerily sugar-frosted statement. He looked around the basement and his eyes found a laughing face under an overly large top hat. The former Kaitou squinted into the darkness of the room and watched as the face stepped out of the shadows. In better light Daisuke saw that it belonged to a rather tall, bespectacled, and round pointy-eared man. He wore a purple rimmed, light gray, loose and billowing overcoat over a green pinstriped pair of clownish pants. But it wasn't the eccentric outfit, or the fact that this stranger had popped up in his basement, that scared Daisuke. It was the fact that this stranger had made Daisuke believe something that he'd thought impossible for the longest time; in just one simple string of words.

"Who are you?" Daisuke managed to ask.

"It doesn't matter who I am, does it?" the stranger trilled in his sing-song voice. "All that matters is that you want your dear friend back."

"What does it matter if I want him back?" Daisuke shot back uncharacteristically. "What can _you_ do about it?!"

"Oh Daisuke, I can do so much for you," the stranger crooned as he crept closer and closer to where Daisuke sat propped up against the wall. He bent over until their eyes were level and Daisuke could see that his skin was a dark shade of gray. "You see Daisuke, I can bring people back to life."

"But he wasn't a real person." Daisuke burst out as a tear leaked from one of his eyes. Some unknown force was driving him to bear his raw emotions to this stranger. "He was always just a soul who never had his own body.... How can you bring back someone who wasn't really there in the first place?"

"I have a new body to put him in!" the gray stranger exclaimed excitedly. Then out of nowhere a mechanical looking skeleton appeared. The grey stranger grasped the skeleton by the neck and presented it to Daisuke, as if he were in a commercial selling a vacuum cleaner. "If you can give me a part of who he was, then I can bring him back. I've only ever done this with real people you see. So I'm going to need that precious shard of yours around your neck."

At this Daisuke was hesitant. This person had apparently never done this with someone like Dark before. Of course he hadn't. There was no one else like Dark on Earth...except maybe for Krad. Was it really worth giving the only thing he had left to remember his other half by on a gamble?

"Come on, _Daisuke~_," the stranger coaxed, a little irritation seeping into his voice now. "Just shove your little shard into this star on its head if you don't trust me to do it for you. Don't you want him back?"

The sound of the necklace breaking echoed in the room as Daisuke snapped it off his neck and crawled towards the skeleton. Taking one last look at the shard Daisuke gently pressed it into the center of the inverted star engraved onto the skull's forehead.

The white bone of the skull liquefied around the shard and pulled it in, gently glowing.

Seconds stretched into minutes as the two waited as the glowing intensified, solidifying into a bright amethyst color. The skeleton threw its head back and arched, its jaws open in a wordless scream. Its spine contorted as twin spokes jutted out of the shoulder blades. They stretched and thinned out; jerking along their accelerated growth until they were twice as long as the skeleton's arms. Finally, the skeleton fell to its knees, drooped over with what looked like exhaustion, its extra appendages hanging at its sides. With what was unmistakably a pair of skeletal wings at its back, the akuma skeleton looked completely like a fallen angel.

By now the stranger had stepped back, quite a ways away from Daisuke and his experiment. The Millennium Earl gazed at the akuma questioningly. This one was different from the rest. Never before had a soul managed to transform or alter the akuma skeleton into anything other than the grotesque body of a level one.

All at once, the Earl knew that this had not been a waste of time. It had been worthwhile to come to where the rumoured `Living Painting' was supposed to have been. But...this angelic akuma seemed to be a bit slow. It hadn't even killed Daisuke yet. Maybe it needed a little push, "Go on, my toy. Get rid of that human in front of you and take his skin as your own."

Its downcast head snapped up with an audible click and turned slowly to face the Earl. Then it slowly stood, wings spread out behind it, and started towards Daisuke. With every movement it made, a strangled, choking sound escaped its non-existent throat. As if someone were choking it and preventing it from making any sound. But once it knelt in front of Daisuke, the red head noticed something; the skeleton was trying to speak.

"D-dark?" he asked timidly. "Is that you?"

"_Dark?_" it replied.

Daisuke paled. It was obviously Dark's voice, but something was wrong with it...something wrong and unnatural. It sounded like Dark was being tortured a hundred times over; and he couldn't do anything about it.

"_Dark?_" it repeated. Then after a few seconds it peered right into Daisuke's eyes, so that all the red head could see were its empty eye sockets, and continued; "_Dai-su-ke?_"

"You remember who I am?" Daisuke asked luridly. There was hope.

"_Dai-su-ke, run, now,_" If it were possible, Dark's voice got even more pained and the hope was lost. "_This man will...kill you. He will make _me_ kill you. Dai-su-ke, run, now._"

"Dark...I-I don't want to leave you again." Daisuke declared. "I've trapped your soul in that terrible body and I---"

But Daisuke was cut off as Dark uttered a high pitched scream to end all screams. Its waves reverberated through the room as the Earl stepped forward, his smile just a teensy bit more strained. "Now, now, Dark; you must do your job as an akuma."

Dark cut off his screaming as he lunged at a bent over Daisuke, slashing deep gouges into the poor teen's back. Scarlet blood stained Dark's skeletal clawed hands as he carved line after line into his former host's back.

Finally, when Dark seemed satisfied with his job he stood up right, towering over the still conscious Daisuke. The Niwa managed to turn his head, enough to aim one eye at what was now Dark, and tried to speak. But no words came out as black crept into the sides of his vision, threatening to knock him out. All he managed to do was mouth two words: _Live on._

A single, black-colored drop poured from Dark's akuma eye as he saw his other half lying on the ground surrounded by his own blood. As soon as the liquid fell, a crack followed, splitting Dark's skull head into two. The crack ran right along the side of Dark's face as smaller cracks branched out from the main one.

Dark took one look at Daisuke and reached inside himself; into the hollow cavity where his heart would have been if he were human. From here he pulled out the very shard that Daisuke had saved from the Koku Yoku. But it was changed. No longer was it a jagged hunk of rock that had just chipped off the art work. Its sides had been smoothened and its lustre had returned as it now glowed with a gentle purple light.

He bent over his fallen friend and planted the now-amethyst-like gem into the bloody mess that was Daisuke's back. Dark then made sure Daisuke could see him as he choked out a response: _You live on._

Dark stood quickly as the cracks scurried wildly throughout his body. While he still could, he decided to go out with a bang. He was Dark Mousy after all, the famous Phantom Thief! So Dark strode over to Duke of Destruction, The Millennium Earl and flipped him a quick middle finger, before disintegrating into dust.

Then everything turned black as Daisuke slipped into the warm embrace of unconsciousness.

Note: Review please, coz I acutally have a plot in mind for this :D:D:D. Oh, and I dont know if I'm getting the emotions across right...concrit is appreciated but no flames.


	2. Chapter 1: Confrontation

Note: Oh gawsh guys thanks for the great response :D. I didn't think that short chappie would get that much attention! Thank you, thank you all. I am currently writing chapter 2 and if I finish within the one and half hours till dinner then we might just have a double update~.

**CHAPTER 1: CONFRONTATION**

Snowflakes fell and settled themselves onto three figures crouching suspiciously on the shingles of a clock tower and its neighbouring dwellings, the pure white in stark contrast against their ebony black cloaks. They overlooked a large, ornate structure in the middle of a ring of buildings, a crowd seemed to be forming around the art museum. Something flickered in the dark night sky as a tennis ball-shaped object flew towards one of the roofs.

"So Tim, any sign of our target?"

The golden golem shook with a definite 'no' as the white-haired figure sighed. A faint static noise crackled over the silence as a voice came over the transceiver the figure wore; "The target's not due to come for another ten minutes, Allen. Let's try to be patient."

"Well we wouldn't be in this situation if the baka moyashi hadn't gotten lost like a little kid..." the transceiver ratted out, adding a new voice to the conversation.

Allen sighed yet again. "If this turns out to be a dead end then you have every right to be irritated, but there's a good chance that this is Innocence. So please, Bakanda, suck it up for another ten minutes..."

* * *

_**Three hours ago**_

Allen had a problem...a really big problem.

Allen Walker, the child of prophecy, successor to the 14th, new musician and above all, exorcist, was handcuffed and being detained as a suspect for theft.

"I told you," Allen started for what seemed like the hundredth time. "I am not a thief, I am an exorcist. My friends and I were just passing by this town when you jumped on us and took me here."

"I haven't been long in the force," the rookie policeman in charge of interrogating Allen said. "But that's the lamest excuse I've heard in the three days I've been working. Come on, you should be able to come up with something more believable than 'being an exorcist'."

The white haired teenager groaned. "On what grounds again are you making this presumption?"

"I've heard reports about you!" the rookie screeched, pointing an accusing finger at Allen. He whipped out a small note pad and recited; 'Recently there have been a string of thefts involving a white-haired youth where incoming travelers arrive at their destinations stripped to their underwear with not a penny on them. The travelers, brought to tears, confessed that all their money and belongings had been whisked away from them by a devil child who had a peculiar scar on his face and hair as while as an old man's' Now try to tell me that the evidence doesn't point to you!"

"Did they actually say that they were robbed by a thief?" Allen asked.

"Well no, but it's sort of implied."

"Why don't we play a game, officer?" Allen said in the most innocent voice he could muster. When the rookie still hesitated, he added: "You can bolt the doors; take your gun out or anything to make you comfortable. I just want to play some cards to show something to you..."

* * *

A strange group of people walked into an even stranger game of cards that day at the police station.

The tallest and most surly looking of the group stepped forward, his long, dark ponytail swishing behind him. The irritated looking Asian took a breath and yelled, "MOYASHI!!!"

Allen looked up from his cross-legged position on the floor. "My name is Allen, Bakanda."

A red headed Caucasian peeped around a fuming Kanda. "We've come to pick you up Allen. I should be wondering why there's a man stripped to his underwear sitting in front of you. The poker game's a bit of a give away though."

"Officer Sanderson!" cried a stout moustached man in another police uniform. "What the hell are you doing in your underpants?!"

"CHIEF!" the rookie, apparently named Sanderson, wailed. "This boy robbed me of all my clothes! He's definitely Kaitou! He has to be!"

"Ah, but did I actually take anything from you by force?" Allen asked. "All we did was play a little game of poker. I didn't force you to keep betting did I?"

And as Sanderson stared shivering with his mouth agape, the Chief took it upon himself to unlock Allen's handcuffs. "No hard feelings I hope, Sir Exorcist. Him being new and all, Sanderson doesn't know about the Order yet."

Snapped out of his stupor, Sanderson seemed to have regained the ability to talk. "You mean he's really an exorcist, Chief? But that's total nonsense!"

"No it's not." Allen said as he got up and dusted himself. "The next time you see someone wearing black clothes lined with silver and the Rose Cross on them, you'll know that he or she is an exorcist. And here," the teen said as he dumped all of Sanderson's clothes on him. "I just wanted to prove a point. No hard feelings, right?"

"Right, I'm sorry um...er...Sir Exorcist, for doubting you."

"Oh, but tell us about this Kaitou person!" Lavi chirped. "He sounds like an interesting guy."

"That's classified information." Sanderson replied promptly.

Lavi grinned at the rookie, "Oh, but if it was so classified, why did you mention it at all?" Turning to the Chief he added, "Is it anything we should know about?"

"Not really," the Chief said with a sigh. "It's just this art thief who's been going around lately. He sends warning cards signed with _Kaitou_ and they tell when, where, and what he's going to be stealing."

"And he gets away with it every single time?" Allen asked. "Even with the security intensified from the warning?"

"Every single blasted time." The Chief hobbled over to a file cabinet and brought out a thick folder with a big yellow CLASSIFIED sticker slapped onto its front. "But he never harms anybody directly, so we can't use the guns on him and quite frankly I wouldn't want to. Catching Kaitou's become more of a challenge than urgency among the force lately; the art he steals isn't even that valuable."

"Any idea why or how he does it?" Lavi said as he continued his little interrogation.

"Don't you think we'd have caught him by now if we knew?" Sanderson snapped, and after a vehement glare from the Chief added, "I mean, no, Sir Exorcist."

"There is one thing," the Chief muttered thoughtfully. Turning to the Bookman he added, "They say that once the heist starts, Kaitou swoops down from the skies, just to prove that he came on time...and I'm not exaggerating on _swoops_."

"Keh, what nonsense is that," Kanda scoffed. "We would have heard if a flying thief was going around robbing people. In fact, why hasn't he been plastered over the news?"

"For the same reason you have for not believing me," the chief replied. "Half the people who see him don't believe it; they think it's all just a publicity stunt by the police. He's more of an urban legend right now."

"Do _you_ believe in Kaitou, Chief?" Lavi prodded.

"Absolutely," the man said decidedly. "We got his warning card a week ago. He's targeting a painting in our local museum tonight, and this is the second time he's targeted our town. I think I'd know if my own men were planning this. You're welcome to stay, Sir Exorcists, if you'd like to watch the heist."

"What do you think, Lavi?" Allen asked. "Do you think it's worth checking out?"

"Well, why not?" the red head shrugged. "We missed our train anyway when we went looking for you. It'll give us something to do overnight. Besides, doesn't this remind you of Timothy? We might just get lucky and find something worthwhile here. So I'm think I'll help the police a bit with Kaitou, and if we can't catch him then either we're horribly out of shape, or this thief's something special."

"Moyashi, if you hadn't gotten lost like a little kid we wouldn't have to go through this hoax." Kanda spat.

"Well, Bakanda we might as well make good of the situation and investigate." Allen then turned to the Chief and bowed respectfully, "Well, it seems as if we'll be helping out tonight. It's a pleasure to be working with you."

"I never said I would do anything," Kanda grumbled.

"Aww, come on Yuu, what else are you going to do? It's been a while since we found Timothy and nothing's been happening." And Lavi turned to Kanda Yuu, prince of scowls, and did his best puppy dog pout.

This of course, only succeeded in earning the Bookman a death threat with Mugen resting on his throat.

* * *

Despite all that, and more irritation on Kanda's part, the three exorcists found themselves lying in wait on the rooftops of the buildings surrounding the museum, shivering in the evening frost. Kaitou's warning note had announced 9:00pm; it was now ten to the hour.

Allen breathed a foggy breath into the air and watched it disappear on the breeze. "Any other idea on Kaitou's motives, Lavi?"

"Nope, nothing," the Bookman responded. "Unless he's doing it for the heck of it all, I don't see why he'd even target this painting. _The Maiden's Song _isn't by any well known artist, it's not worth much on value, and it's not even on display! The thing's in storage! I can't imagine why anyone would actually announce stealing something like that. It really just might be a publicity stunt, or some kid fooling around with the police."

"And we still don't have anything on the 'swooping' entrance...,"

"_KSHHHSHHHSHKSHHHH,Sir Exorcist? We would like to remind you that it is currently 8:54." _The Chief's voice rattled out of the old walkie talkie the department had supplied them with (the police didn't seem to like the radio golems...). "_The heist will be starting soon, I advise you to watch the skies."_

"Roger that, Chief," Allen replied before stowing the communicator away and turning his gaze skyward. Not looking away from the inky darkness he whispered to Lavi, "Remember Lavi, you and your hammer are our trump card. You ready?"

"Right," the red head grunted as his hammer stretched out in front of him. He closed his eyes while glowing Japanese characters circled him, lighting up the night with yellow-white light. _And in five, _the Bookman's eye snapped open. _Four, _his hammer swung. _Three,_ the seals disappeared as the ground at his feet shone with the blown up character for heaven. _Two, _the hammer grew ten times its size yet again. _One, _Lavi aimed his innocence to the clouds and roared: "MARUMOKU!!"

The skies cleared as golden light beamed from Lavi's innocence. The clouds shied away from his _Wood Seal _as the clock hit 8:55 a full five minutes before the appointed time. The crowds below scrambled as police tried to aim a search light at the skies and spectators flashed cameras.

The exorcists ignored the chaos below as they sprung into the action.

Lavi grinned and flipped his hammer, the head now resting on the ground. Bookman pointed his hilt up and squinted his eyes, pin-pointing a rather oddly shaped dot in the sky, too big to be a bird and to small to be a plane. His grin widened as he yelled, "EXTEND!"

He rose up and up and up into the sky, blindsiding the hovering thief in the air. Kaitou faltered for just a bit, but then regained himself

_FLAP FLAP FLAP_

Two silhouettes flanked Kaitou and they seemed to be...wings. Lavi stared at the two extra limbs that were jutting out of this person's shoulder blades, before looking at his face. His own emerald eyes widened in shock as they were met with glowing ruby irises.

The two hung in the air for a moment longer before Kaitou broke the trance and dove, headfirst, towards the museum. Lavi cursed himself for hesitating and quickly dropped back down on his hammer.

* * *

"What's going on? "Allen whispered into the communicator. "They're not moving."

"Don't worry," Kanda scoffed from his place across the building. "The stupid rabbit won't die that easily, you should know that."

"Right..." the younger muttered. He and Kanda were to ambush Kaitou as soon as he landed. Lavi was supposed to be driving the thief towards them. Instead, Allen saw that the Kaitou dot in the sky had just dived, heading to what seemed to be the far end of the museum, while the Lavi dot just stayed there. After a while though the Lavi dot seemed to wake up and rush towards their target.

Kaitou swerved downwards in an attempt to shake Lavi off, but the exorcist easily kept up, only needing to tilt on the head of his hammer. Once they drew closer though, Kaitou made a sharp aerial turn, suddenly zipping to the left.

This was not part of the plan.

Allen now had to make a spit second decision. He either blew his cover, activate his innocence and give chase, or lie in wait and follow the plan. Turns out though, Kanda was more eager to go with the first choice as he unsheathed Mugen, the sword glinting to life

The asian leapt from rooftop to rooftop, following the zigzagging figure below. A figure joined him as a fool's mask flashed next to the samurai. Crown Clown's belt stretched out, heading towards the dark blur that was Kaitou. The thief dipped and dodged, avoiding both the exorcist's attacks and the police's search lights.

Suddenly, Kaitou pulled upwards, buffeting Allen and Kanda in his slipstream. The two barely had time to look up before their target plummeted feet first onto the museum's sun roof, the sound of breaking glass echoing into the night as the clock struck 9:00pm.

Note: Not much happening here...but it's building up to the big meet up 0_o plz review. Oh, and I researched Lavi's seals. You'd think he'd use the heaven's seal, but no that's apparently only used to generate lightning. The wood seal on the otherhand allows him to control nature i.e. the clouds, wind, actual wood etc etc.


	3. Chapter 2: Akuma

Note: I just figured out that fanfic was messing up my xxxx dividers. Anyway, a lot of POV shifting in this chapter. I'm sorry if it seems confusing but I needed to do it for effect.

**CHAPTER 2 : AKUMA**

Daisuke was impressed. This town had really stepped up since his last visit. Not even Paris had actually forced him to start early. These new guys in black were something else. He wasn't sure, but Daisuke thought he'd seen the red head fly on what he thought looked like a broom, the ponytail one try to hack at him with a katana and the white haired one had some kind of glowing cape.

All these thoughts were racing through the Niwa's head as he landed onto the museum floor, shattered glass raining onto him from above. _No time to think about those now,_ he chanted to himself, _if these people keep up with what they`ve been doing then I`m going to need to focus._

_It doesn`t seem like the police as a whole have improved, _Daisuke thought to himself as he got up and made his way through the museum. _They just have those three helping them, and if that`s the case then I`ll need a distraction to throw the three off._

And with that thought, Daisuke rounded a corner and pulled on the central alarm switch.

_**SCHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE**_

The alarms blared over all thought as police scattered everywhere, flooding into the museum and effectively botching up the exorcists' plan.

"Damn this!" Allen cursed as he watched his partner's ponytail bob away with the flow of the crowd. Irritation rising in him, the white-haired exorcist grabbed the nearest policeman and asked as politely as he could, "What the hell is everyone doing?!"

"What does it look like?!" the policeman screeched, excitement flickering in his eyes. "We're all heading to _The Maiden's Song_ exhibit!"

Allen's hand went limp as confusion overcame him. His bewildered stare followed the policeman as he slipped away back into the rush of the mob. What was going on? The exhibit entrance was across the hall, in the opposite direction of the crowd. They were all going the wrong way!

"Oi, Moyashi!" Kanda called over the din of the chaos. He fought his way through the crowd towards the exhibit entrance and glared at Allen to follow.

The two stepped through the entry and a strange sensation washed over them. Allen remembered this feeling, he had felt it long ago...on that fateful day he had entered the rewinding town and met Road Kamelot.

"This is magic." Allen whispered through gritted teeth. "Be careful Kanda, this Kaitou character isn't a regular human."

"If he had been a regular human we would have captured him by now," the Asian scoffed.

The hall they had entered led straight to the exhibit, and should have been heavily guarded. Instead, only the sound of the exorcists' harried footfalls echoed through the silence.

As the two neared the exhibit, they saw a familiar mop of red hair standing next to a not so familiar silhouette. The red head looked up and grinned as Allen and Kanda neared. "Hey you two, looks like Kaitou hasn't reached the painting yet. Seems like good old Sanderson here was playing lookout for us."

"If he's the most competent person they could send over then this town has a problem," Kanda jeered.

"Awww, come on Yuu don't be so hard on the guy," Lavi cooed. "He was the only one here when I came in through the window. I've already scared him half to death; don't make his night any worse."

"Good job Sanderson," Allen said, forcing a warm smile onto his face. Something was off here, why was Sanderson the only one immune to the magic among the police?

A quick glance at Kanda affirmed the cursed boy's suspicions. The swordsman's brow was scrunched, more than usual, he was feeling doubtful too.

"Thank you, Sir Exorcist." Sanderson replied, barely raising his head to meet Allen's eyes.

Crimson met scarlet-black as Allen's cursed eye whirred to life.

Sanderson's previously auburn hair flashed as his form blurred from reality. This was enough to tip Kanda into distrust as he slashed Mugen in a smooth and deadly arc. The Sanderson impersonator jumped back as his illusion dropped completely, unveiling a man, who was most definitely, Kaitou.

The thief landed silently and stood watching the exorcists; tense, as a shaft of moonlight revealed him to his pursuers.

The exorcists couldn't help but stare at the thief that stood before them. Kaitou wore a black leather overcoat over a turtleneck and pants of the same color. His monochromatic clothes were an extreme contrast to his bright, gravity defying hair and glowing red eyes. But it wasn't all this that puzzled the exorcists the most...it was the fact that Kaitou, for some reason, had two rips on his back. Whatever caused them tore through the thief's overcoat, shirt, and judging from the dark wetness that trickled from the holes, his flesh too.

"So it wasn't just a trick of the light," Lavi murmured, before the room was enveloped in a thick opaque smoke.

The beginnings of fear started to build up in Daisuke's mind as his smoke bomb confused the room's other occupants. These people had not only seen through his illusionary magic, but they'd dispelled it! Now they'd seen everything and there was nothing the young Niwa could do about it.

_But, _Daisuke thought. _I can worry about this later. Right now, I have to make sure I get that painting out of here._

And with that he turned away from the mysterious men in black and sprinted towards the display, happy that at least he had retracted his wings.

_The Maiden's Song_ was a simple painting. Created during the Cultural Revolution, it depicted a middle-class woman in her best dress overlooking a grand garden from her patio. To most anybody, the painting would be boring compared to others born in its era. Amateurs would say it looked just like hundreds of other paintings out there. Experts would say that the paint strokes were too thick, the colors not deep enough, or some other profound criticism that displayed their knowledge in the arts. Daisuke on the other hand, knew of the painting's history.

'The Maiden' in the painting was the wife of an important figurehead in the government. It had been a forced marriage to raise the wife's family up the social ladder. Eventually, the relationship went downhill and the wife got herself a lover amongst the hired help that frequented their estate. Of course, the husband found out and executed the poor stable boy the wife had fancied. Traumatized, the wife buried herself in the one thing that had remained constant in her life; music. Men were drawn to her window by the enchanting notes that emanated from her room. Forte, crescendo, adiago, fresco! Her voice carried on the breeze and drew suitors to her like flies to honey. In the wake of his wife's previous affair, the husband grew paranoid and severely punished any man who did as much as glance at his precious spouse. But the allure of her voice was greater still than any threat the husband could throw. The wife knew of all this, but music had become her light, her only bridge towards sanity. She couldn't stop; she needed this joy more than food, water, or even air.

This painting was done by the stable boy, the first to fall for _The Maiden_'s charm. Though he was far from a genius, and had used second hand paints and equipment, the stable boy had poured life into his work; that had been enough to bear a soul.

The painting currently hung on the wall was a farce, a replica made to throw Daisuke off. The paint was too new, the strokes too even and most importantly; it held no spirit. No, the true _Maiden's Song_ was past the flashy frames and raised pedestals. Through a tiny door off to the left, tucked under a staircase, in the storage room...it was in this claustrophobia inducing place that the wife's soul resided; shackled to her beloved's masterpiece.

The Niwa made quick work of the intricate lock mounted on the door and hurriedly shuffled inside. Boxes upon boxes were stacked up against the walls, all of them together would have held over fifty different artworks. Daisuke strode purposely over to a worn out wooden crate shoved into the far most corner of the room and inspected it.

The wood was old and faded, but the nails were shiny and new.

Daisuke smirked to himself as he knelt and held out a bright red feather to the box. The feather glowed as he whispered; "You can come out now, milady"

The nails shone cherry-red as wisps of magic seeped out of the crate. The magic formed a faint image that sat on the dingy box. It was a beautiful woman clothed in a long, sky-blue, silk gown. Her copper hair lay in delicate curves that cascaded down her back. Her chiselled face marred by the deep sadness that she had harboured ever since her dear stable boy's death. A rusted metal collar was wrung around her neck, its chain tethered her to the box.

"Lord Niwa," she greeted with her melodious voice. "I have heard talk about your arrival."

"Then you know that tonight, you shall be set free." Daisuke replied with a small smile.

The woman's face lit up with what might have been her first smile in the past century. "Thank you Lord Niwa I---"

The Maiden was cut off as her expression turned to one of grave despair. The collar around her neck crumbled off, but the cracks spread past the collar. They spread, creeping into her arms, her chest, her face, forming a web that had covered her entire body. Tears fell from her eyes as she looked up to Daisuke, a look of complete desolation on her face. Then, as if she was made of porcelain, the Maiden shattered; into pieces so small that they almost looked like ashes.

"Now, what the heck was that?" croaked a strange being that sat cross-legged on the old wooden crate. It wore bone-white plating over its body, like a knight, but it was eroded; as if darkness had overtaken it. Instead of flesh and muscle, this entity had a bare ebony skeleton. Its head, or rather helmet, had no eye holes and rested over a lower jaw rowed with pointed teeth. One of its arms had morphed into a long scythe-like blade...it was stabbed into the box.

The painting was like a body to the trapped soul. If it was destroyed, the soul was lost with it.

"So," the knight drawled out. "Who exactly are you little boy? And why do you have the exorcists after you?"

Daisuke wiped away the tears that had come, ignored the sudden pain of the old wound on his back and pushed away the recognition that filled his mind. He knew this creature, or at least, knew its kind. Scenes from his encounter with the strange grey man started flooding back. The screams, the blood, the pain. _No,_ the Niwa shook his head, trying to clear it. _No, no, no. It can't be, it can't be...but what if it is?_

Daisuke Niwa stared defiantly at the strange being and answered, "I am Kaitou, and you?"

The knight cocked its head and replied, "My name is Krad, and I am an akuma."

Kanda was easily irritated, and today he was extremely pissed off.

1) They had missed their train because of the stupid Moyashi.

2) The stupid rabbit had forced them to go investigate this hoax.

3) The hoax had turned out to be true, meaning he was wrong.

4) The thief had actually evaded them, meaning this was all worthwhile and Lavi was right.

5) And most importantly, those annoying alarms had been going on for the past fifteen minutes.

So when an army of akuma descended from above trying to look like angels of death, Kanda Yuu's mood turned from bad to satanic.

"MOYASHI!" he screamed over the wail of the akuma he had just dissected. "Aren't you supposed to be warning us about things like this?!"

"If you'd care to remember Bakanda," Allen retorted as he decimated a wave of akuma with Crown Clown's edge. "The higher ups put a seal on my eye. It's supposed to wear off by tomorrow."

"Gotta love those stiff, wound-up jerks," Lavi whistled as he twirled his hammer and roared, "WOOD SEAL!"

A gust of wind buffeted them all as Kaitou's smoke cleared away; revealing ten more level 2's to take care of.

Kanda leapt up and took action. _One,_ he spun with Mugen outstretched. _Two, three,_ gravity brought him down, impaling them on his sword's point. _Four, five, six, _Lavi's hammer came down with a deadly whack. _Seven, eight, nine, ten_, Allen's claw drilled forward as he prayed for their souls.

"Is that all of them?" Lavi asked.

As if in reply, the storage room door broke off its hinges; followed by a level 3, holding up a battered, bloody, yet struggling, Kaitou.

"You think you stand a chance against me," the akuma rasped. "You, who are but a normal human, should know your place!" The level 3 threw the thief to the ground, belly down, and poised its skeletal heel on the strange wounds on Kaitou's back.

By now, Kaitou's struggles had been reduced to mere twitches...and those might not have been intentional. But admirably, he still had enough strength to turn his gaze towards his persecutor. He made to say something, but he was cut short as a violent coughing fit took over him. Blood gushed from his mouth as he cringed and vomited out the dark red liquid.

Daisuke knew he was in bad shape. His arm was broken, his insides were messed up, and he was about to black out. He knew he shouldn't have tried to fight this monster off, but how could he have just fled? This _akuma_ had destroyed the soul he had come to save. This _akuma_ radiated evil miasma. Most importantly, _this akuma_ had said its name was Krad.

Krad, Dark's archenemy and Satoshi Hikari's curse. Had Daisuke brought him back when he tried so desperately to call back Dark's soul? Satoshi definitely wouldn't have done it. Did the two halves of Koku Yoku work that way? Was he then responsible for all the sordid things this akuma Krad had done?

The Niwa gasped in pain as Krad dug his clawed toes into Daisuke's wing holes. Even if he had gained his own wings and magic; they were still unnatural to his body, and Daisuke always found a little blood whenever he unfurled his wings. It was a sensitive spot and he cringed as Krad's talons buried deeper still.

"Krad how did you get," Daisuke had to pause to catch his breath. "G-get here?"

"I will humour you human, since you are soon to die anyway," Krad trilled, his old superiority complex leaking through. "The Earl himself came upon me and gave me this wondrous vessel to harbour my soul."

"Why you?" came his whisper.

"What did you say, cretin?" Krad asked, bending down to bring his foot down harder.

"WHY YOU?!" Daisuke screamed, a wing joint forcing itself out of his back.

Krad stepped off in surprise.

"Why couldn't _he_ be brought back?" Daisuke's calls echoed through the room as both his wings fully emerged with a flurry of feathers. He brought himself to his knees and turned to face the akuma, tears falling freely. "WHY?!"

Blood stained feathers flew at Krad, Daisuke's will propelling them forward. Magic was directly linked to emotions. The stronger the emotion, the stronger the magic; right now, all Daisuke could feel was an overpowering storm of feelings. Anger, pain, confusion, he didn't know what it was anymore. All the Niwa knew was that he wanted to destroy Krad, for all he had done, for all he had been and for simply being there while Dark was not. These emotions got stronger and stronger until suddenly, everything went black.

Allen watched as Kaitou grew wings from his back. He watched as the thief screamed his indignation to the akuma. He watched as the thief fired feathers at the level 3 and he watched as the feathers caused damage.

This thief was an exorcist. He was one of them and now he was injured and unconscious on the battle field.

Lavi and Kanda seemed to realize the same thing as they leapt towards the level 3 to finish the job. Even if those feathers were innocence, they were still weak since Kaitou probably hadn't been trained to use them.

Allen preoccupied himself with seeing to Kaitou. He made his way over to the thief and came to a conclusion: Kaitou would die soon if his wounds weren't seen to immediately.

Turning to his two other comrades he was surprised to see the level 3 still standing. Two exorcists of their level should have taken it out in less than a second. But Allen couldn't dwell on that, he had a dying man on his hands. Taking a deep breath he hollered, "Come back, WE'RE USING THE ARK!"

With a final slash and whack, Lavi and Kanda retreated.

Allen closed his eyes and tapped his fingers as a melody wove through his mind, and instantly a large luminescent gate opened up.

With Kaitou being gently lifted by Lavi and Kanda giving the scenery one last scowl, the last thing the exorcists saw as the gate closed was the lone level three spreading its own skeletal wings and sending them the biggest and creepiest grin it could muster.

Note: that was intense...wasn't it? I don't know about you guys but it felt intense writing it. Next chappie we travel to the Black Order! Heck yea! KOMURIN!


	4. Chapter 3: Q & A

Note: This chapter is a dialogue bomb, don't expect much action.

**CHAPTER 3 : Q & A**

BEEP

_Who's voices are those?_

BEEP

_What's happening to me?_

BEEP

_When did it ever hurt this much?_

BEEP

_Where am I?_

BEEP

_How did I get here?_

BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP

_**Krad!**_

Allen stayed obediently still as the Matron checked his injuries. He winced a bit as the antiseptic salves stung at his open cuts. "So are we free to go?"

"You," the Matron said with a tug at the bandages, "are free to go along with Sir Lavi and Kanda."

"What about him?" Lavi asked, pointing at Kaitou's bed. It was the third day since they had gotten back from the heist and the thief had shown no signs of improvement. The three exorcists had come home with minor cuts (minor to them anyway) and bruises; Kaitou had arrived with internal bleeding, two broken bones and major blood loss. The Matron had also found a huge amount of scarring on the thief's back, but affirmed that they weren't from the heist and had long since healed.

"Sir Kaitou won't be going anywhere until he wakes up and we learn his proper name," the Matron snapped. "You three are free to visit him, but call me if anything changes."

"Will do ma'am," Lavi affirmed with a small two-fingered salute. "Let's hope he doesn't panic when---"

The bookman was cut off by the frantic beeping of Kaitou's pulse monitor. Everyone's favourite Phantom Thief was waking up.

Daisuke snapped his eyes open and saw a world of white: it was not helping his panic attack.

He could hear footsteps coming closer. _I have to move,_ he thought to himself. _I have to..._. Daisuke's heart pounded faster as the Niwa realized that he _couldn't_ move. His arms felt like lead, his legs were rubber, his head throbbed and his wings were out and exposed.

"Kaitou!" called a voice.

Daisuke tilted his head towards the voice to see a red head with one green eye fixed on him. Something clicked in his head and Daisuke recognized him as one of his pursuers that night. The beeping went into overdrive as the Niwa tried moving the only part of his body still could: his wings.

"Kaitou!" Lavi's shout only seemed to make the situation worse as aforementioned thief raised his wings in an attempt to move.

"Shouldn't the anesthetics still be working?" Kanda growled.

"They still should be," the Matron answered. "Sir Kaitou's metabolism must be a little different. A normal human would take another hour to burn through all those drugs."

"KANDA!" Allen screeched. "A little help would be nice!"

Kaitou had tried to flap his way towards the nearest window. What he didn't know was that this infirmary was underground. So the thief had been backed into a corner by both Allen and Lavi. He seemed to remember them as the people who had tried to slash him in half.

The Phantom Thief did _not_ look good. He had a cast on his left arm, intense bandaging around his torso and splints on both his legs. Feathers were sprawled on the floor where he knelt. His wings had been dusted with medicine and were pulled in, half-folding as he leaned on his right arm for balance. His ruby eyes clouded with confusion and pain as he looked at the now three exorcists that surrounded him. Kanda had joined the party.

"Do you really need me here for this Moyashi?" Kanda asked. "He won't be that much of a problem."

"The name's Allen," the white haired adolescent muttered. "Now shut up Bakanda and help us calm him down."

Ignoring his two bickering friends, Lavi stepped towards Kaitou and reached a hand out. "You really shouldn't be out of bed you know."

The other red head stared at the hand and rasped in accented English, "What happened to the…akuma that fought me?"

"Oh so you're already familiar with akuma? Perfect," Lavi responded. "Well just so you know it got away; we were too busy saving you to chase it down."

Kaitou regarded the outstretched hand a bit skeptically before grasping it. "Thank you for that."

"Don't mention it Kaitou, you're one of us now," the bookman grinned as he pulled the teen up. "You wouldn't mind actually giving us your name would you? I mean, Kaitou's cool and all but it's a bit distant don't you think?"

"I'm…one of you?" the thief asked, wobbling a bit. "Who exactly are you all?"

"It'd be best if you sat down for the explanation," Allen recommended, breaking away from his Asian rival and pulling a chair over. "It's quite a long story."

Daisuke sat stiffly on the stool that had been passed to him. He noted idly that all the other chairs in the room were full backed. The Niwa appreciated the gesture as he flexed his wings out, waiting for the three to start.

"Introductions first," the white haired one began. "My name is Allen Walker, the red head is Lavi Bookman and the grumpy one is Yuu Kanda."

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Walker, Mr. Bookman, Kanda-san," Daisuke responded.

A few awkward seconds passed before Kanda spoke up, "You're supposed to give your name when someone gives theirs, gaki."

"Gaki?" Allen asked.

"It means brat," the two red heads chimed.

Lavi grinned and turned to face Daisuke. "So you're Japanese too huh?"

"Hai," a few _more_ awkward seconds later and Daisuke sighed, "Being a thief, I do not exactly disclose information that easily."

"Well I hope you feel differently after our little explanation," Lavi huffed. "Comrades are supposed to trust each other you know."

_Comrades?_

"It all starts with the Millennium Earl," Allen started. "He comes when people reach the height of despair and gives them an alluring proposition: to bring the dead back to life."

A tiny part of Daisuke's mind remembered the toothy grin, grey skin and echoing laugh.

"He prompts them to call the soul back, and inserts it into a mechanical body."

The clicks and whirrs of Dark's skeletal joints rang once again in Daisuke's ears.

"Then the newly born akuma attacks the person that called it back," Allen continued, his eye twitching a bit. "It kills that person so it can wear his skin and live among humans."

Daisuke hunched a bit as the old scars on his back tingled from the memory: blood everywhere, the maniacal laughter of the strange man, Dark's grotesque new body swinging slash after slash after slash.

"Kaitou?" Allen called, brow furrowed in worry.

Snapping out of the trance he didn't recall entering, Daisuke mumbled a hurried reply: "Yes?"

Walker still seemed concerned but apparently decided to drop it as he continued. "There are so far four levels of akuma that have been discovered, level 1 being the weakest and level 4 being the strongest."

The red head, Lavi took over, "The level 1's sort of look like really big floating mechanical balls that have guns poking out of them. Those guns shoot out a poison that can instantly kill. There's no way of saving yourself unless you cut off the infected part before it spreads."

"How do you know where it spreads?" Daisuke asked. He was sure he'd been stabbed by the Krad akuma, but not shot.

"The poison is visible through your skin," the bookman stated. "It starts as a pentacle, an inverted star, on the spot where you were shot. Then more pentacles appear around it until you're completely covered; then you crumble and die."

"I was not shot though," Daisuke reported.

"Ah but the akuma you fought wasn't a level 1," Lavi added. "It wasn't even a level 2, which evolve from level 1's and develop distinctive personalities and forms. That monster you fought was a level 3."

"Evolved from a level 2?" Daisuke guessed.

A nod from Lavi, "Once they reach level 2, they gain more weapons and more ways to utilize their poison. If you were, say clawed by a level 3 akuma, then you most definitely got poisoned."

"How am I still alive? And how exactly to they evolve?"

"The more humans they kill," Kanda said, joining the conversation and ignoring the first question, "the higher their level goes."

"And the more their souls die," Allen muttered.

"Is there any way to save them?" the Niwa wondered out loud.

The three exorcists stared at him for a full minute before giving out mixed reactions. Kanda scoffed, which Daisuke was beginning to expect from the morose swordsman. Lavi had a serious expression on his face, like he was analyzing something. Allen on the other hand had a smile plastered onto his band-aid ridden face.

"I was starting to think I was the only one," Allen confessed, "who cared about the akuma souls."

"Why would you not?" Daisuke asked. "They are still souls. It's no fault of theirs that they are akuma."

"That's treacherous talk gaki," Kanda warned. "More talk like that here and people will start rumors."

"Why?" the Niwa asked again.

"Most people in our organization have lost loved ones to akuma," Lavi explained. "They won't take kindly to you if they know that you sympathize with the enemy."

"Why don't they fight the akuma?" Daisuke pointed out. "I have seen you fight them, and I…attempted to fight Krad."

"Was that the name of the level 3 you were up against?" Allen inquired. A soft _hai_ from Daisuke prompted him to continue, "Only exorcists can fight akuma, because only exorcists can use innocence and only innocence can kill akuma."

"Innocence?"

"Innocence is what makes up anti-akuma weapons," Lavi clarified. "Like my hammer or Yuu's sword."

"And your cape?" Daisuke added, turning to Allen.

"No, my left arm," Allen said as he raised his deformed appendage, "is my anti-akuma weapon. The innocence is part of my body, marking me as a parasite type and immunizing me to akuma poison."

"Then I am alive now because…"

"Because," Lavi started, "You harbor innocence in your body, thus making you…"

"An exorcist," Allen finished.

"I will not join." Daisuke declared defiantly.

"What?!" Lavi cried. "But the innocence has chosen you, this is your destiny!"

"My destiny is to seal the dangerous artworks that plague the world," he stated.

"Dangerous…art?" Allen asked.

"Artworks that gain souls and magic," Daisuke explained. "I cannot abandon my---"

"Gaki," Kanda called. "Now that you have escaped an attack from the Earl, and it was you he was after, he will target your family."

"…what makes you say that ambush was for me? Could he not have known you were there?"

"We weren't even meant to still be in that town," Kanda countered. "It was by accident that we heard about your little heist."

The Earl could target his family? Daisuke's mind reeled with the thought: Kaa-san, Jii-san, Takeshi, Hiwatari, all his classmates and…Riku-san. They were far, far away, but could they still get hurt? He wouldn't allow it...not over the mistake he had made that night. They wouldn't be harmed just because he hadn't been able to let go of Dark.

Mulling it over in his mind one more time, Daisuke sighed and held his hand out. "I'm in your care then."

"I hope you don't resent us for forcing you to join," Allen apologized. Something in the boy's town told Daisuke that he really _was_ sorry for this coercion. Nonetheless, Allen clasped his outstretched hand and shook it warmly. "Welcome to the Black Order Kaitou."

"Thank you Mr. Walker," Daisuke said, a small smile on the corners of his lips. "And it's not Kaitou, my real name is Daisuke Niwa."

"It's nice to meet you Daisuke, call me Allen," the white haired teen replied, giving the new exorcist a pat on the back.

Daisuke gasped as an intense pain shot up his spine. He watched Allen back away, lowering the hand that had touched his back; it had been Allen's left, the cursed one. His skin burned under the bandages as he fell to the ground, writhing in agony.

"What's happening?!" the Matron cried, bursting into the private room they had been in. "What is he doing to his bandages?!"

"I don't know," Lavi cried, holding the thief's arms down. "But it can't be good."

Kaitou lay on his side with his arms bound by Lavi, his wings pinned on one side by Kanda and his legs being squashed by Allen. The bandages around the base of his wings were loose where he had pulled at them, bright red dotting the sterile white, pink scar tissue peaking through the gaps.

"It's BURNING!" Kaitou screeched, arching his back in a wail of pain. His wings flailed under Kanda's hold, beating into the exorcist's face. Irritated, Kanda unsheathed Mugen and slipped the cold steel in between the loosened bandages. In one fluid motion, the swordsman sliced through the wrappings.

Kaitou's screams dwindled to labored breathing as the blood-stained cloths fell.

The entire room stared agape at the thief's back. Not for the blood, nor the discolored scars stretched across, but for the ebony black markings. They curved and pointed, connecting Kaitou's wings to a solid pentacle etched into the youth's back. Markings that looked incredibly like Allen's cursed eye.

The 14th successor knelt at Kaitou's head and asked one thing: "Who did you try to bring back?"

Daisuke turned one glittering ruby eye to face Allen and whispered, "My other half."

Note: I hope it wasn't too boring. For all you DGM fans there I'm sorry I made you sit through another akuma explanation, but it had to be done. I could have just glazed through it, but Daisuke had a few reactions in him. Well, hope you enjoyed anyway, R & R!


	5. Chapter 4: Weirdness

**CHAPTER 4 : WEIRDNESS**

Komui had been quietly procrastinating, minding his own business at his _very_ organized desk when Lavi's slightly distressed voice had called via-golem. Now he found himself staring hard at their new exorcist, as he had been doing for the past hour of the boy's interrogation. Daisuke Niwa had a slight body, apparently from his upbringing as a thief, scarlet hair, eyes and...wings as well as a cursed scar that had not been there prior to his arrival at the Order.

Kaitou had been his street name for three years now. He had gotten it when he made his debut as an art thief at age fourteen. It seemed that he'd had a partner of some sorts that worked with him; Daisuke wasn't being very clear on that. When that partner had passed away, Daisuke called on the Earl. His partner's soul rejected the akuma body and disintegrated while attempting to kill him.

Currently, the redhead was seated on a stool while the Matron fussed over his back, dabbing at it furiously with a gigantic cotton ball that looked like a powder puff. The seventeen year old winced slightly every time the alcohol soaked ball touched the bloody mess that was his back. Allen and Lavi were trying to dust off his wings with damp cloths.

"This is taking forever," Lavi whined as he tossed his rag into the growing pile of soiled cotton and powdery rags. "Why don't we just take him to the baths and hose him down there?"

"Because I am still being interviewed," Daisuke hissed as the Matron pressed fresh gauze onto his back. "Mr. Komui has not given permission yet to leave. Also, I don't have any clothes."

"Aww, but Kaitou-tan," Lavi cooed. "You look so stylish in your pyjama shorts, doesn't he Yuu?" That earned him a face full of feathers and a scoff from Kanda.

"How odd though that you have two toned feathers when you have only one color of hair." Allen noted as he too discarded his rag. "The black just comes out of nowhere."

"Black?" Daisuke choked out. "They aren't black, they are red."

Komui cocked his head at the teen's odd reaction. "I thought they were red too before they were cleaned. Now I see the black accents."

Daisuke twisted his head to peer at his stretched out wing and saw a bit of a shadow at the bottom of the inner feathers. Disbelief marred his face as he flapped, dislodging more of the medicinal powder. The exorcists' cloaks fluttered in the mild gust the action stirred up. With a hand on his hat to keep it in place, Komui watched as the winged boy gawked incredulously at his scarlet, ebony tipped wings.

"It must be the innocence," Komui hypothesized. "Contact with Allen's hand must have stimulated not only your scars, but your innocence as well."

"So his innocence is in his wings?" Lavi asked. "That explains why the feathers he shot worked on the akuma. But why would they change color? Were they _not_ innocence before?"

"Um excuse me," the Matron coughed. "But Sir Daisuke's wings were red and black when he was brought in. The blood may have confused you, however when we cleaned him up they were exactly as you see them now."

"They were red before," Daisuke mumbled. "I am sure of it. _He_ had black wings, not I."

"He?" Allen piped.

"My partner."

"You BOTH had wings?" Komui asked.

"We had magic," Daisuke explained. "My wings are of magic, not innocence. I don't know why now they change. Wouldn't they have changed when I met the Earl?"

"They should have," Allen answered. Turning to Daisuke and pointing to his eye he continued, "That's how my innocence was activated. I used it to defend myself from the akuma I created."

"But my partner's akuma died before it could kill me," Daisuke reminded. "His soul was not stable enough."

"It still should have been activated," Allen said.

"Unless...," Lavi thought out loud. "Unless Daisuke's like Krory. He might have had the innocence put into him and it only activated because of his fight with the level 3."

"But why did the Earl only start hunting him down now?" Allen asked. To Daisuke he added, "You haven't met akuma before this have you?"

The spiky headed boy thought a little, brow furrowed in concentration, before slowly voicing his reply. "I am not sure but the after I had met the Earl, I remember having nightmares: a man that followed me and cornered me into an alley. After that, the man...split, like a cocoon. A monster had come out of him, leaving the skin of a man behind. I can't recall how the monster looked, but I remember being terrified.

The nightmares went on and on, night after night, as real as life itself. Until, in one dream, a gunshot sounded. The monster crumbled away and a tall man with long red hair wearing a white mask and black coat stood behind it. He held a smoking gun in his hand and had his other arm around a pretty woman. The woman stepped forward and sang to me. Then I found myself awake in my home; feeling calmer than I had been for a long time. After that, the dreams never bothered me again. Now I realize those might not have been dreams at all."

The other occupants in the room had mixed expressions, but Allen Walker's was by far the most interesting. He wore a smile on his face, as if he were about to laugh, but his eyes burned with a dark emotion of some kind. A menacing chuckle escaped his mouth as Lavi mouthed something about "Black Allen".

"So you've met my master," Allen stated. "He must have put a spell on you to repel akuma."

"You must have been the trigger to null it, Allen," Lavi commented. "That might have been when the General implanted the innocence too."

"Master General?" Daisuke asked.

"My master trained and raised me after my father died," Allen started. His words caught in his throat as he realized that he couldn't continue.

"The General trained Allen to use his innocence and sent him over to the Order," Komui supplied. "Right now he's gone missing. He might have met you after he'd sent Allen here and while he was fighting in Edo, Japan."

"Do you fight Mr. Komui?"

"No," Komui replied with a hint of sadness. "I've got a comfy desk job with a lot of paperwork to do. Plus, I'm not an accommodator for any type of innocence."

"So anybody who has innocence is automatically an exorcist?"

"Well..."

And so commenced the long and arduous explanation of the Earl, the akuma, the noah, the order, innocence, innocence types, exorcists, generals, and the like.

* * *

Daisuke's head reeled with all the information that had been crammed in his head. He was now involved with a major organization that was in an actual war against demons that were the descendants of biblical people, and they were now watching him shower.

"Must you be here?" he groaned to Allen as he tried spreading his wings in the cramped cubicle. In the week he had spent drifting in and out of consciousness under the Order's super medicines Daisuke had healed five times faster than if he had been in a regular hospital. That being said, he still wasn't at 100% and was prohibited to walk around alone by order of the Matron.

"Must we go through this again?" Allen retorted, mimicking Daisuke's tone from where he was leaning against the damp tiled walls. "It's still very probable that you slip or fall, and that is especially dangerous in a bathroom. So just bear with it."

"That is why _you_ are here Allen," Daisuke said as he turned the water off and stepped out of the cubicle with a towel wrapped around his waist. "But why must there be two people...um."

"Escorting?" Link Howard supplied as he stepped into the steamy bathroom.

"Yes, escorting me?"

"He's not escorting you," Allen scoffed. "He's monitoring me."

"And may I ask why?" Daisuke prodded.

"It's a very long story," Allen answered. "So I'd rather not."

"I would not want another long explanation anyway," Daisuke joked light-heartedly, though Allen and Link could see it was an attempt to digress. "Stand back."

Ever prepared, Link popped open a large umbrella and held it in front of himself. Allen strode over to a window and shoved it open before falling in behind his stiff roommate. Daisuke smirked at the odd site and beat his wings powerfully into the air, drying them much faster than a towel would. Droplets scattered everywhere as fresh air was pumped into the room. A full minute of flapping later, Daisuke seemed satisfied and folded his wings close to his body. Once they were pressed in as far as the muscles would allow a soft red glow spread through the now black accented crimson feathers. The wings shone with magic as they retracted into Daisuke's back, completing the tattoo he now carried. Daisuke made his way towards the wall mirrors to examine his back. He couldn't complain; it was much better than the grotesque pink scars he'd once had.

The tattoo was different from Allen's, but some similarities were apparent. A pentacle formed the base in the small of the Niwa's back, while strokes of darkened skin veered upwards. Twin lines curved towards each other as the markings stretched to frame the (ex-) thief's shoulder blades. From there they dipped halfway down the back before spindling off into almost cartoon-like bat wings; all in perfect symmetry.

"If you're quite done admiring yourself," Link called, one foot out of the door. "I would like to get on with my day please, Niwa."

A red faced Daisuke followed Link and Allen to the change rooms and found that someone had taken his infirmary pyjamas and replaced them with cargo pants and a black t-shirt. Excitement bubbled up inside the Niwa as he turned to Allen. "Does this mean that I may leave the infirmary?"

"Yes," the white haired youth replied, as the red head quickly dressed himself. Once he was done, Allen steered Daisuke into the corridors with Link trailing dutifully behind. "But first, we have an appointment with Hevlaska."

"Hevlaska?" Daisuke repeated. "Is...that a name of a person?"

"The oldest and probably very first, exorcist to come into existence," Allen clarified. "Be sure not to get lost in these halls Daisuke. It's happened before, trust me."

"Guess who spent an entire day lost," a cheery voice joked.

The group met Bookman Junior as they turned the corner. Lavi was leaned against the wall, twirling his miniature hammer expertly in between his fingers. He looked like he had been waiting for them.

"Are you coming with us?" Allen asked, ignoring the jab at his sense of direction.

"Yeah," Lavi answered as he fell in step beside Allen, who was leading them through the twisting halls. "Gramps is a bit busy, but Lenalee says she really wants to meet you Daisuke."

"It would be nice to meet her too," Daisuke replied politely. "Is she an exorcist as well?"

"An exorcist and Komui's sister," Lavi confirmed. "You'll need to be careful about what you say around Komui when his sister's concerned. He's got a bit of a sister-complex."

"That is the biggest understatement I have ever heard," Link muttered from the rear of their procession.

Daisuke was tempted to dig more into the subject, but a light up ahead distracted him. Sunlight had not been easy to come by in the underground medical wing. He held his breath as he stepped through the threshold of light and was blown away.

Their corridor, and many others from what Daisuke could see, led to a central hub where you could see down to the bottom floor of the building. Light filtered in through the part-glass ceiling, illuminating the dozens of floors below. Ornate railings bordered the edges of each floor as scientists in white lab coats scurried around. Stained glass dotted the windows and scattered coloured specks of brilliance.

"This is beautiful," Daisuke breathed.

"It's pretty awesome," Lavi grinned. "You should have seen the old headquarters, it was even bigger."

Suddenly, something roughly the size and color of a golden tennis ball attempted to crash into Daisuke's head; he barely had time to dodge.

"Tim!" Allen called as the tennis ball slammed into his face. He staggered backwards a bit as he tried to talk around the golden lump on his face. "Did you get what I asked for?"

Daisuke had seen a number of weird things in his life, so a shining tennis ball opening a mouth full of teeth with something in its mouth wasn't weird...really, it wasn't.

"Daisuke this is Timcampy, my golem," Allen introduced. The golden golem waved a stubby arm at Daisuke as its swirly-tipped tail curled around Allen's head. Reaching into the golem's mouth and pulling out a leather chord necklace, Allen handed the trinket to the newbie. "This is yours I think."

Daisuke took the necklace and looked it over, trying to ignore where it had just been. An inch long amethyst set in a lattice of white gold dangled from the cord. "Thank you; I wondered where this had gone. Where did you find it?"

"You were still wearing it when we first arrived on the ark," Allen replied. "In fact, are you missing anything else? There's a chance we dropped some of your things in there."

A thoughtful look came over Daisuke's face for a moment before he spoke, "I can't name anything, but would it be hard to go look?"

Before Allen could answer another glowing white object decided to collide with him; this one was much bigger, resting upon Allen's entire torso. It stayed for a fraction of a second, and then jumped straight up, Timcampy in its grasp.

It floated in the air, clutching Tim in what looked to be humanized paws. The creature looked to be a cartoonish, anthropomorphized dog. It was entirely white, emanating an unnatural glow, while its eyes were deep obsidian black. The ruff collar that wrapped around its neck casted shadows on its slim frame and highlighted the bones that showed through the pristine fur.

The dog continued to levitate as a disembodied voice bellowed at it from the floor directly below Daisuke and his entourage. "Timothy, let go of Tim!"

Allen leaned over the banister and hollered back: "Welcome home Lenalee!"

He stepped back as a dark green haired girl flipped over the banister. She had short cropped hair and wore a casual Chinese style outfit. "I'm home," she responded. Looking up towards the dog that was now squeezing Timcampy in its paws she added, "Timothy found a necklace on our trip though the ark, and Tim tried to take it from him. He's been in that akuma for over two hours now."

"How was the training mission?" Lavi asked as he trotted forward, leaving Daisuke to stand awkwardly alone.

"Fine," Lenalee answered. "Just a few level 1's and a couple of level 2's. Did Tim hand the necklace over to you, Allen?"

"Yes, I asked him to go look for it," Allen replied. "But the necklace is with Daisuke, he dropped it on the ark when we carried him back."

"The new exorcist?" Lenalee asked.

"Yeah," Lavi affirmed, beckoning Daisuke over. "He just got the OK to leave the infirmary. We're on our way to see Hevlaska."

"It's nice to meet you Daisuke," Lenalee said smiling with hand outstretched.

Daisuke shook the hand a bit nervously, remembering what Lavi had said about her big brother. "The pleasure is mine Ms. Lenalee."

"OI!" called a voice. The group looked up to the dog, which was now talking. Nobody seemed to find the floating, talking dog weird except for Daisuke. If this was normal, the Niwa was wondering what strange was in this crazy place. He was snapped out of his train of thought by the talking dog, "Oi, you with the necklace! That's my property you're holding."

"I seem to recall this being mine," Daiuske retorted, some of Dark's lingering personality shining. "But you are welcome to try and take it back. If you can that is."

The dog flung Timcampy away and dove at Daisuke as Lenalee screamed "TIMOTHY!" at it. But it didn't matter to Daisuke, he was a thief after all; there was no way _he_ of all people would get pick pocketed.

Timothy made desperate lunges at Daisuke, which he easily evaded. "Your movements are very rough," the Niwa commented. After a solid minute of dipping and dodging, in which Daisuke's hands never left his pockets, he dangled the necklace at the younger boy and asked: "Do you still think that this is yours?"

A snarl stretched across Timothy's canine muzzle. His borrowed body shone brighter as his jaws opened to a full 90 degrees, a ball of energy forming in front of them. "I'm Timothy Hearst," he howled. "Exorcist and Phantom Thief: DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME!"

Daisuke sidestepped the attack...then jumped away as the ball swerved back towards him again.

Timothy cackled as he watched the Niwa avoid the relentless attack. "That's the special ability of this akuma," he informed. "That ball will follow you for as long as I say so! So d'you wanna give _my_ necklace back now?"

Daisuke back flipped over the glowing ball and watched it zoom away as he landed. Standing his ground, Daisuke held his hand out. Timothy's attack rushed forward and collided with an invisible barrier inches away from his face. The barrier flashed red as Daisuke's body quivered under the strain of pushing the attack back. Tendrils of the Niwa's red dyed magic wound themselves around the glowing ball, trying to override it.

Daisuke grit his teeth as his barrier broke, producing a sound akin to a shattering mirror. He waited for the pain that never came.

* * *

Suddenly, Lenalee was in front of the new exorcist, her Dark Boots making contact with Timothy's attack, kicking it away towards a poor unfortunate wall.

"Timothy!" she shouted again. "What would we have done if he'd been hit by that?! Daisuke's just gotten out of the infirmary!"

But her scolding fell on deaf ears as deep cracks ran through Timothy's akuma body. Whether it was the strain of the attack, or the limit of his innocence, they didn't know. All that they knew for sure was that the young exorcist was now falling, down and down and down into the bottom dungeons of the Order.

Lenalee didn't make a move. She, Allen, Lavi and Link knew that this wasn't Timothy's real body. Daisuke however, didn't.

* * *

_Why weren't they moving? Wasn't this their comrade? He's falling, dying, and they were just standing there! Maybe they won't, maybe they can't. Well then, I will._

These were the thoughts that ran through Daisuke's head as he flung himself over the banister. The magic had exhausted him, and his injuries still bothered him, but what else could he do? He dove, head first, arms glued to his side as he searched for Timothy's body.

All of a sudden he saw him, plummeting faster than he could dive. Daisuke cursed as he tapped into his dwindling reserve of magic. The red energy surrounded him, boosting his speed and sending him towards Timothy.

He took the disintegrating canine body into his arms and snapped out his wings. They pummelled the air furiously, fighting against inertia and gravity. His muscles screamed in protest. Without the aid of magic, his wings had to work twice as hard. His body was not meant for flight; unlike a bird, his bones weren't hollow, his lungs weren't strong enough to breathe in enough oxygen to keep himself airborne. Magic had made flying possible, but now he was completely drained of both magic and energy.

Daisuke's wing beats were growing weaker and farther in between. Black dots specked his vision as he tried desperately to flap harder. Through the haze of fatigue, something unlocked inside of him. A new kind of energy sparked as a familiar voice whispered into his mind: _Come on Daisuke, you can't die here._

His wings radiated dark light as the red was marbled with black. Suddenly, flying didn't seem so hard anymore. Daisuke's wings filled the downwards tunnel with eerie light as he slowed their descent. Before long he could see something below: a vast mass of glowing whiteness he had come to associate with innocence. _Land,_ ordered the voice in his head, and Daisuke found himself obeying.

Upon landing Daisuke turned to find himself staring into a face that was maybe 3 feet in diameter. Tendrils sprouted at its forehead and trailed onto its back and entire body. The face had no eyes on its face, only a nose and mouth. It stared at the redhead with his blazing wings and the crumbling body in his arms and spoke: "Welcome, young exorcist. I am Hevlaska."

_You've ended up in a pretty weird place Daisuke,_ the voice commented, and Daisuke couldn't help agreeing.

Note: Notice how I just skipped over the explanations :D that felt good. Any guesses on the mysterious voice???? About the bird things about hollow bones and lungs with air sacs, that was from Maximum Ride. If it's incorrect please, say so in a PM or a review, and please, DO review. I don't think I'll start writing the next chapter until I get at least 2 for this one, because that's what happened with the Q&A chapter. Props to It'sDarkInHere and kamiam714 for reviewing that insanely boring one.


	6. Chapter 5: The New Guy

**CHAPTER 5 : THE NEW GUY**

"DAISUKE!" Allen called as he dove after their newest exorcist, the black depths of the basement rushing up to him.

The wind buffeted him as something zoomed by in his peripheral vision. Allen reached out to the familiar extending hilt of Lavi's hammer and swung himself into an upright position. He slid down, fire-man style, as Hevlaska's ethereal glow faded into view.

As he got closer Allen saw that Daisuke was in fact _not_ splattered on the ground, crushed by g-force, or broken on the floor. The Niwa was cradled in Hevlaska's arms...tentacles. Lavi was already hollering up at the senior exorcist.

"HEY HEVLASKA! IS HE ALRIGHT?!"

"Calm yourself Lavi, he is fine," Hevlaska replied. "He is barely conscious, yet he will not let go of this akuma."

"He thinks it's Timothy," Allen informed as he walked briskly on the marble floor of the basement.

Hevlaska gave a massive nod before setting Daisuke down in front of Lavi and Allen. Her tendrils wrapped around his wings, cocooning them in her innocence. "His synchronization rate is quite odd..."

"So is it dangerous for him to use his innocence?" Allen asked, remembering how adverse Daisuke had been about joining the Order.

"Patience, Allen Walker," Hevlaska ordered. "Let us wait a moment, Komui is arriving."

* * *

Komui ran through the halls towards the rotunda. Timothy had whined about something to do with Daisuke, but that wasn't what had him hurrying through the halls. Oh no, his brotherly love sensors were going crazy; this meant only one thing, Lenalee was in distress!

"LENALEEEEEE!" he screeched. "DON'T WORRY; BIG BROTHER'S COMING TO SAVE YOOOOUUUU!"

Arms flailing and tears gushing, Komui Lee made burst into the sunlit center of the Order's new residence. This would have been the perfect entrance, had Timothy not rammed him from the side.

"KOMUI!" the blue haired kid called. "You hafta come and help! Some red head fell over the banister trying to save my akuma body and he had wings! And, and, and they were on fire!"

"Brother!" Lenalee shouted over Timothy's frantic harrying. She had a finger on the elevator lift button, waving at him to board it. "Hurry, don't think Hevlaska will do anything without you there."

A second later the Science Head found himself plunging into Hevlaska's chamber, thinking that Timothy looked a bit too happy being restrained by Lenalee.

* * *

"He is waking up," Hevlaska announced. All eyes snapped to Daisuke as he let out a quiet groan of pain. Hevlaska freed his wings as Allen, Lavi, Lenalee and Komui all drew closer to the Niwa who struggled to sit-up. Pale faced, Daisuke sat on the marble floor, breathing deeply.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save the dog," he breathed. The akuma body had disintegrated into dust and covered Daisuke from head to toe. "He was your comrade...right?"

"Well yes and no," Allen answered. "Let's just say that wasn't Timothy's real body."

Confusion muddled Daisuke's face as that set in. "He has two bodies?"

"Well no, but he can possess akuma." Allen looked like he was about to explain more before Komui cut in.

"Daisuke, are you up for another explanation?" the science head asked.

Daisuke's head lolled back as he replied. "No, but I don't have much of a choice do I?"

Lavi was a bit startled by what his newest comrade had said; it clashed dramatically with the withdrawn, polite impression the boy had first presented. _Better to leave it be for now, _the bookman decided. _We are, after all, dealing with someone who tricks people for a living...or used to anyway._

Hevlaska was now giving a report of what she sensed from Daisuke's innocence. The senior exorcist was just confirming Lavi's former hypothesis on the Kaitou's abilities.

"Daisuke Niwa, you are well versed in the magic arts yes?" A nod from Daisuke and Hevlaska continued, "Your magic flows through your body, it overpowers the innocence and limits it. During your descent, when your innocence was activated, your synchronization rate was at a mere 53%. The longer you kept it activated, the lower the synchronization dropped. Before I extinguished your innocence, it had reached a low of 12%."

"Can we raise that number through training?" Komui asked. "We can't doubt that he is an exorcist...right?"

"That is what confuses me," Hevlaska sighed. "You see, his innocence is parasitic, yet not as Allen Walker's arm is. The wings...are not of innocence, he has had them before the innocence invaded his body."

"He told us that," Lavi stated. "His wings are supposed to be made of magic."

"They are of blood, magic, and innocence," she corrected. "The innocence has been implanted into them. Because it is foreign to his body, the innocence is rejected when he uses his wings."

"Master implanted them," Allen muttered. "What was that baka-devil-womanizer thinking, forcing innocence on a random person he found? Daisuke could have died."

"I was planning ahead, stupid apprentice."

Allen paled as he turned to face the disembodied voice. He, and the other occupants of the room, sans Daisuke, breathed a sigh of relief as they saw Tim projecting what looked to be a hologram of a miniature man. The mini-man was clad in a long black overcoat. A mask blocked half his face as shaggy red hair cascaded down his shoulders. He also seemed to be holding a bottle of what looked to be very expensive wine.

_"If you are listening to this, then that means you have found Whatsisname. Whatsisname shows promise and so, I am giving him the gift of innocence. Now I am a very busy man and Whatsisname is a very dirty and cursed boy, very much like you. I do not have the time or patience to train a second you, so I am giving the responsibility of training him to you."_

The recording stopped as Tim fluttered towards Allen to slap him out of his shock. Lavi, ever-logical, asked the golden golem something: "Tim, when did you record this?"

Tim played another recording, this time an audio-only one:

_"This recording has to be played if Allen finds someone that I found who finds himself compatible with innocence, understand Tim?"_

_"MASTER, I'M DONE PLAYING CARDS!" called the voice of what must have been a younger Allen in the background. "WE HAVE TO START LEAVING __REAL FAST!"_

Tim's mouth snapped shut as the recording ended. Allen seemed to finally find his voice as soft, slightly demonic, chuckle escaped his lips.

"It's a generic message," Allen mumbled as more laughter seeped out. "A GENERIC MESSAGE FOR SOMEONE'S LIFE HE JUST CHANGED!"

Lavi helped Daisuke up as his white-haired friend continued to cackle maniacally to the heavens. "Just try not to make too much eye-contact until he settles down," the bookman warned. "But behold a glimpse of your new teacher."

Daisuke stared at Allen a while longer before asking, "Is he really...qualified to teach?"

"He is a Critical," Hevlaska stated. "One who has exceeded 100% synchronization."

"Don't worry Daisuke," Komui said. "We can get everybody else to help, but first, we have to get you patched up again. Then you have to eat something; it's almost noon and you haven't eaten yet right?"

Daisuke nodded as he and everyone else piled onto the elevator lift that would bring them back to the rotunda. The Niwa stopped as Lavi dragged the still Black Allen past him, turning to look back at Hevlaska, who was retreating into some corner of the room. "What about her? Are we leaving her here?"

Hevlaska smiled at Daisuke. "I do not think I am human enough to walk above."

"You're human enough," Daisuke replied. "If akuma can be up there then why can't you? You're a lot better than they are."

"You do not think they would cower from me?" Hevlaska asked.

"Anything with a soul should be treated like a person," Daisuke answered.

"It is kind of you to care Daisuke Niwa, but I contain all innocence that the Order has collected; I must stay here and protect them." Hevlaska gave Daisuke another smile before saying, "It is not so bad, Komui visits often and keeps me company."

Daisuke was forced to accept this as the elevator brought them back into daylight. The light was gentle and gradual as they slowly rose. It glinted briefly off his ebony wings before he folded them fully into his back, leaving two vertical tears on his shirt.

* * *

Many hallways, corridors, floors, and an energy drink (for Daisuke) later, the group found themselves at the cafeteria. Not many people had stopped to talk to them. Most of the scientists greeted Komui of course, and Link soon showed up to berate Allen for virtually jumping into a seemingly bottomless pit, but other than that their short walk went uninterrupted.

That all changed once they stepped into the Black Religious Organization's Big Noisy Cafeteria.

Lavi showed him where to order as Allen, conveniently snapped out of black mode by the smell of food, rattled off the list of food he was ordering. They filed into a line in front of an island counter in the middle of the room.

"Jerry, our cook, can make anything possibly imaginable," Lavi explained, passing a tray to Daisuke.

"Some empanadas, and pasta, with marinara sauce, a meatball sandwich, maybe a turkey platter, mashed potatoes..."

"Feel free to order anything you want," the bookman went on. "As long as it's physically possible, Jerry can make it."

"Samosas, shepherd's pie, corn on the cob, rye bread, _garlic_ bread, pot roast, honey ham..."

"Hurry it up Walker," Link grumbled behind Allen.

"adobo, tempura and mitarashi dango! Did you get all that Jerry?" Allen asked.

"Yep, coming right up!" replied the flamboyant voice over the counter. A dreadlocked, sunglasses-wearing head popped over the counter and faced Allen's entourage. "And what're you having Link?"

"A vanilla chiffon cake please, with a strong pot of peppermint tea," he said, moving along to where Allen was laboriously piling his order onto a cart. Link then proceeded to lecture Allen about having a balanced diet while loading the triple layer cake onto his tray.

"Oh, is this a new face I see?" Jerry asked, eyeing Daisuke.

"He's our newest exorcist," Lavi announced.

"It's nice to meet you Jerry," Daisuke said, with a slight bow. "My name is Daisuke Niwa."

"Oh, a polite one I see," Jerry whooped. "Well, don't be so uptight, around here a little informality goes a long way. So what're you having?"

Daisuke ordered a simple beef rice bowl while Lavi got a hotdog. They followed Allen's tower of food to a table where three people were seated. After a string of greetings Lavi proceeded to introduce Daisuke yet again. "You're looking at Allen's new apprentice, Daisuke Niwa. Daisuke, from left to right, these are: Lenalee Lee, Arystar Krory, and Johnny Gill."

"It's nice to meet you all," Daisuke repeated, taking a seat. His studied Krory for a while before asking the jittery vampire: "Are you the one who can possess akuma?"

"Possess akuma? Oh, you must mean Timothy," Krory said. "He's off with his master right now. General Klaud was very cross with him."

"How are you Daisuke?" Johnny asked.

"I'm fine," the ex-kaitou replied. "Just a bit tired."

"Tired? That's it after falling down twenty floors?!" the scientist exclaimed. He adjusted his glasses and gave Daisuke a funny look, muttering something about how exorcists were superhumans.

"Were you born in Japan?" Krory asked in an attempt to stem Johnny's approaching exorcist rant.

"I grew up there before coming here," Daisuke answered, taking a bite of his lunch. "Why do you ask?"

"You have really good English," Krory commented. "Barely any accent at all."

"Daisuke," Lenalee asked, concern leaking into her voice. He turned to look at her and the female exorcist could have sworn that Daisuke's eyes had flashed purple. "You're bleeding a bit from those holes in your shirt."

The Niwa fingered the tears and felt the sticky wetness of blood. "It's fine, I'll just let it dry out."

"How did that happen?" she asked.

"I got it when I fell," he replied. "But it happens all the time so please don't worry."

"But it could get infected," Johnny pointed out, handing Daisuke a few paper napkins. "At least use these to wipe up. I don't understand why all the exorcists insist on not taking care of their injuries."

Daisuke gave a small smile as he patted the blood off, fingers glowing black.

Suddenly, the Niwa found that he had a blade at his neck and a foot pushing his head to the table.

"What have you done with the gaki?" Kanda hissed.

"KANDA!" Allen shouted, angry that he had been torn from his food and that the long-haired swordsman was about to slit his new comrade.

"This isn't the gaki," Kanda declared. "His aura is different."

"Well spotted," Daisuke mumbled, looking up at Yuu Kanda with deep violet eyes. "But sorry to inform that this is still Daisuke's body. IF you slit this throat, you'd be killing not only me, but another exorcist as well."

Interestingly enough, the cafeteria did not quiet down at the scene. After all the death matches between Kanda and Bookman, the Europe branch was a bit desensitized to things like these. The fact that there were three other exorcists seemed to be enough to put their minds at ease.

"_Who_ are you?" Kanda pressed.

"I'm Daisuke's partner," he replied, unfurling his dark wings in a flurry of feathers and effectively throwing Kanda off. He stood in his seat and looked down at them, purple streaks lining his hair as his eyes shone amethyst. Now this warranted the attention of everyone in the room. His wings spread like a raven's as he proudly declared. "I am Dark Mousy, the famous Phantom thief!"

And then the energy drink apparently lost its effect as Dark/Daisuke crumpled to a snoring heap on the ground.

Note: The chapter after this will veer away from Allen, Daisuke and etc. It'll be a special one and a new POV and I for one am excited writing it XD. But firstly I'll be reviving my other story Second Chance, so I don't think I'll be finishing it by New Year. But anyways, MERRY *INSERT WINTER HOLIDAY* TO YOU GUYS.

P.S. If you actually read the list of food that Allen rattled off, and if you knew what adobo was, I give you a virtual hug :D MABUHAY MGA PINOY~


	7. Special Chapter

Note: What's this?! Another chapter within a week?! GASP. This is very very short, since it's not really a chapter, but it sure was fun writing it!

**SPECIAL CHAPTER : A DAY IN THE LIFE OF...**

Krad drifted through maze-like corridors lazily, the eternal twilight casting an eerie glow on the halls. Life on Noah's ark was just _so_ boring! He wanted thrill, exhilaration, _anything_ to break the endless routine that had fallen over his existence. The most exciting thing that had happened so far, was meeting the Niwa boy. He'd _certainly_ changed since the last time they had met. Not only that, but he'd had wings! That meant only one thing: Dark was still inside of that wretched human.

But alas, the Earl tethered him to the ark. He was only allowed to venture out whenever the Earl deemed it fit. Such a fate fell only upon the Earl's most precious subjects. Ah, what a burden it is to be so superior!

Krad's elitist musings were cut short by a flustered looking woman. She scuttled towards him, looking nervous and frightened. Of course she was frightened; the pathetic whelp was only a level 1, walking the halls in its dreadful human skin.

"Sir Krad," she addressed, giving a little curtsey. "The Master has summoned you to his quarters."

The dark angel gave a curt nod as he contemplated whether or not this level 1 was worth devouring. Deciding otherwise he left the level 1 where it was and floated a bit faster through the shadowed halls. The idea of another trip outside was very enticing, and he definitely shouldn't keep the Earl awaiting his presence.

* * *

The Millenium Earl was ecstatic. The Noah had gathered, Tyki was healed, something interesting had happened to his current most favourite toy and Road had gotten her report card back.

"Straight A's," the Earl proclaimed proudly. "Definitely worth all the all-nighters ne~?"

"Thank you so much Earl!" Road whooped. Glomping her study budy she added, "Oh, someone's at the door."

A tall curved door appeared on the previously blank wall. Road grinned as it swung open, revealing a winged level 3 hovering a foot above ground. It entered, landing silently on the ground as the door behind him shrunk back into nothingness.

"Ah Krad!" the Earl called. "Come in, come in, there's cause for celebration you know!"

"Yes I heard," Krad drawled out. "Mistress Road has gotten very good marks from school."

"Now now Krad," Road chastised. "Eavesdropping is a nasty thing to do!"

The Earl hefted Road up and seated her in one of the many overstuffed chairs in the room. "Never mind that, Krad just doesn't know right from wrong." Turning to the level 3 he said, "You _won't_ be doing that again right?"

"No milord," Krad answered dutifully.

"Good~! Now, what's this I hear about your latest meeting with the exorcists?"

"There is a new one milord," Krad announced. "He was after the painting I sought to destroy."

"Ah, it wasn't that person you were looking for?" the Earl asked.

"It was him milord; he is their new ally," the akuma responded. "I have told you before milord, that my other half is a thief, naturally drawn towards precious artworks. We only had to keep destroying these works and he would soon show himself."

"Yes, but he is an exorcist?" the Earl queried. "This person you have searched for over a year has turned out to be an enemy?"

"It is more complicated than that my liege," Kred replied. "His host is an exorcist. Dark is like me, only a soul with no body. Before you granted me this wondrous body, my last vessel was also a human."

The Millennium Earl leaned back in his chair and thought a bit. "This new exorcist, he wouldn't happen to be Daisuke Niwa would he?"

"Why milord!" Krad exclaimed. "You know of the pitiful wretch?"

"Of course I do~! Who do you think was the first to be my little experiment? Though I can't fathom why the akuma conversion worked for you and not for Dark. He is completely identical to you, is he not?"

"In all but one aspect," Krad answered. "You see, Dark harbours feelings for his tamers, the Niwas. You made the mistake of pushing him to destroy his favourite tamer, Daisuke Niwa. Had you resurrected him at Kokuyoku, as you did me, the akuma conversion would have succeeded."

"I made a _mistake_ you say?" This new toy was getting to be just a tad too free-willed.

"A minor one milord," Krad said. "But this will not affect the plan. Dark will still be able to join us; all we need to do is free him from his prison."

"And you're sure that this is worth all the trouble?" the Earl asked. He turned to Road, looking for her take on the matter, "What do you think Road? Should we let Krad go on with his project?"

"I don't see why not Earl," Road trilled. "Kraddy has admitted that without his other half, he's not even at half the power they could have together. Isn't that right?"

"Not only that Mistress Road," Krad said. "Without Dark, Daisuke Niwa is a wreck. It will be one less exorcist to take care of."

"Well then it's decided!" the Earl announced. "I'm putting you in charge of this Krad, only because you're special~!"

"It is an honour," the akuma voiced with a bow.

"Now, I think you should take someone with you," the Earl supposed. "All these akuma you lead are just marching towards their deaths."

Another, more intricate door slid into existence as a figure dressed in a tuxedo stepped in. The figure removed his top hat, revealing the row of stigmata that characterized all those in the Noah family.

"It's a pleasure working with you Krad," the new Noah said.

Krad smiled inwardly as he bowed towards his new partner, already thinking about all the wonderful things that could happen with this particular Noah's power. This bode very well for him, very well indeed. "The pleasure is all mine Master Tyki."


	8. Chapter 6: Thief Meets Thief

Note: More talking and just a bit of action (training action anyways).

**CHAPTER 6 : THIEF MEETS THIEF**

Daisuke woke slowly, taking in the sounds, smells and textures around him. He could hear the slow breathing of people surrounding him. He could smell the chemical tang of antiseptics in the air. He could feel the metallic coolness of something nearing his throat...

**This is some pretty deep shit you've got us into.**

Keeping his eyes shut the Niwa forced himself to relax as his body tensed under the impending threat.

_Thanks for stating the obvious Dark, _Daisuke drawled.

**Yeah, you're welcome,** Dark replied, a hint of amusement hanging onto the reply.

_How are you talking to me? I thought you were sealed back at Kokuyoku._

**Well I don't know I was busy being sealed. You're the one who messed with my soul.**

_...I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to bring Krad back._

**Meh, don't worry about it Dai. Krad would've found some other way to get out eventually and it's that fat elf that gave him his new body; you didn't really do anything. **Dark could still sense his tamer's guilt and resentment. He gave a tiny mental sigh before muttering a soft apology of his own, **I'm sorry too.**

_For what?_

**For hurting you that night.**

_It's fine, I know that wasn't you._

**You don't understand Daisuke...it **_**was**_** me. I remember it all, his order, my blades, your screams...**

Daisuke's heart beat faster as he felt Dark's sadness. His partner's emotions melded with his own as they lay there, wallowing in their self-misery yet still blissfully aware that they were one and whole again.

After a few more seconds, Dark spoke up. **Daisuke, they know you're awake. You might as well stop pretending.**

_Fine,_ the Niwa replied. _I'm going to have to deal with your mess you know._

**You **_**could**_** just lie to them.**

_I...don't think I should._

**Daisuke, you're a thief. This is the kind of thing you do.**

_No Dark. Right now I'm not a thief. Right now I'm an exorcist and I've made a promise to these people._

**Well whatever, but it's our body you're putting on the line here, don't forget that.**

Daisuke smiled as he snapped his eyes open to see a very blunt looking sword poised at his throat. Allen Walker stood holding the sword's hilt, his mouth set as a frown under Crown Clown's fool's mask.

"Allen!" the Niwa exclaimed, ignoring the monochromatic weapon. "Your arm is missing!"

"It's fine, it's innocence," Kanda growled, stepping into Daisuke's limited view.

"Who are you Daisuke?" Allen asked gently. "Why did you lie to us?"

"I'm a seventeen year old art thief," Daisuke stated. "I do not remember lying to you."

"You didn't tell us all of the truth," Lavi prodded from behind Allen's glowing form.

Daisuke gave a soft groan and asked, "May I sit up? I will tell you all everything after that sword has been put away."

Allen swung the weapon away and raised his mask. His eyes connected with Daisuke's as he let out a breath. "Your eyes are red again."

"Yes," Daisuke agreed as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed he found himself on. "I heard you met Dark."

"We did," Kanda growled.

**We didn't get along, **Dark added needlessly.

"What exactly did my partner do?" the Niwa prompted.

"He climbed on a cafeteria table and flicked Yuu off with his wings," Lavi supplied. "Or should I say _your_ wings?"

_And why did you do that?!_ Daisuke asked his other self.

**He had a sword at my neck.**

_I had a sword at my neck and you don't see Allen on the floor._

"I'm sorry for what he did," Daisuke said, ignoring Dark's grumblings. "But you must understand we are two different people."

"How does that work?" Lavi pushed, his bookman personality shining through. "Do you take turns with the body?"

"Well," Daisuke thought for a while. "More or less. Dark will take over if I am unconscious or if the situation demands it."

"Hmm," Lavi hummed. "We better take you to our self- proclaimed expert."

"Expert?" Daisuke repeated.

"You've met him," Allen joined in. "He's Timothy Hearst, our youngest exorcist. He has some experience with things like this."

"Gaki," Kanda called. "Hold your wrists behind your back."

**DAI! They're about to cuff us!**

_Quiet Dark, they're only doing this because of how violent you acted._

Daisuke complied and crossed his arms behind his back, feeling a bit surprised at the slip of paper they used to bind his wrists. "A paper?"

"It's a sealing talisman," Allen explained.

"You're going to need your wings out," Lavi said. "Komui wants to give you a check-up before you leave the infirmary."

"Of course," Daisuke replied, unfurling his wings. The white sheets of his hospital bed were specked with blood and feathers as the Niwa shook his extra limbs. "Will the Matron be coming in?"

"Komui said he'd be testing out a new trainee," Lavi answered. He scratched his head a bit before adding, "Odd that he's doing this with a new exorcist though."

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

The four occupants of the room turned to the door as the abnormally loud knocking continued. A few seconds later a booming voice announced: "I am here to assist Mr. Niwa."

"Come in," Daisuke called, heedless of the paling faces of the three senior exorcists around him.

"That sounded like..." Lavi started.

"The idiot wouldn't have..." Kanda continued.

"It can't be anyone else," Allen groaned, jabbing his sword into its port on his left shoulder.

Daisuke was shocked at the sword's flashy transformation into Allen's left arm, but before he could ask...

SLAM!!!!!

The door slammed open as what looked to be a white trash can wearing a funny hat rolled into the room. For some reason, it seemed strangely familiar to Daisuke. And then it spoke: "I am here to give you medical assistance Mr. Niwa."

**What the heck is that?**

Ignoring his other half Daisuke stood shakily from the bed and faced the...thing. "Um, are you the new trainee?"

"YES!" it roared, rising a few feet as arms and legs appeared. Saluting them all it proclaimed: "I AM---"

A high pitched whirring filled the room as Allen dashed forward, clawed hand drilling into the thing's torso. The impact rocked the metallic monster as Allen's innocence met with resistance; a shield was keeping him from penetrating the robot's outer shell.

"HAHA! The master said you would do this Mr. Walker!" it chortled. "That is why he outfitted me with one of the innocence seals!"

Komurin's mechanized hands made a grab for Allen as the white-haired teen dodged. Daisuke sent Lavi a confused glance as the bookman activated his mallet. "Lavi, is that an akuma?"

"I am hurt Mr. Niwa!" the thing exclaimed from behind the barrier. "I am KOMURIN X, not an akuma!"

"And that's almost as bad!" Lavi shouted as he whacked Komurin X, only to have his hammer bounced off. "This is one of Komui's robots. I should have seen this coming; he hasn't made a Komurin for a while."

**So this innocence stuff won't do anything to it?**

"You cannot hurt it with innocence?" Daisuke asked, relaying Dark's question.

"Not with that seal on it," Lavi answered. "And our innocence is the only weapon we carry. Oh good they've moved away from the door. Come on Daisuke, we'll leave Yuu and Allen to deal with Komurin."

"What about my check-up?"

"Don't worry, if Komui sent _that_ instead of the matron then you're probably fine," Lavi said. Suddenly, he pushed Daisuke down and hissed, "STAY DOWN!"

"What?" Daisuke ducked just in time to see a pair of hands extend from Komurin. Allen was kicking the robot in an attempt to offset its aim as the mechanized hands veered off to Daisuke's left, barely clipping his wing. He looked into Komurin's eyes and saw a crazed glow behind those sixty watt eye bulbs; it was then that he knew that getting caught by this thing would be a very bad idea. The Niwa scrambled towards the door, jumping over the other hospital beds and ignoring the fact that all he was clothed in were a pair of pyjama pants. Meters away from the door he glanced over his shoulder at Komurin and saw a horrible sight; the robot had sprouted two more arms.

"PLEASE STAY STILL MR. NIWA!" Komurin screeched. "I AM ONLY TRYING TO HELP!"

"Don't believe him Daisuke!" Allen shouted, kicking the robot again, this time with Kanda's help.

But despite all their best efforts, Komurin's newest upgrade prevailed as one of his arms wrapped itself around Daisuke's torso. The Niwa gave a yelp as his mid-section was pulled back in the vice grip.

* * *

Komui was once again assaulted in his office. Seriously, is it just so hard to be left in peace? He was just minding his own business and doodling/doing his paperwork, when Kanda broke down his door, dragging his latest Komurin in, with Allen and Lavi in tow.

"WHAT have you done to Komurin X!" the science head screeched.

"Nothing," Kanda growled, dumping a severely dented Komurin on the floor.

"M-m-m-master," Komurin sputtered.

"But, I used the strongest material I could get my hands on," Komui breathed, reaching a hand out to touch the fallen robot's hat. He turned to Kanda, tears in his eyes. "He just wanted to help! Poor, poor, Komurin..."

"Master," Komurin said again. "I have completed 13% of Mr. Niwa's check-up. I hope that is satisfactory."

"Of course it is...," Komui whispered tearfully.

"Komui?" Allen asked. "It would be nice to get Daisuke out of it."

"You can't," Komui replied.

"What?" Lavi prompted.

"You can't," he repeated, still obviously shaken by Komurin's beat-up appearance. "Once inside Komurin's treatment chamber, the patient receives enough anaesthetic gas to knock them out for one hour. There's no way to get Daisuke out now that Komurin's this beaten up."

A low groaning came from within Komurin as the robot's eyes flickered on and off. Daisuke's voice called weakly from the robot's interior: "Where am I?"

"Well the Matron _did_ say that Daisuke went through anaesthetics faster than most," Allen reminded.

Lavi knocked on one of the many dents decorating Komurin's body. "You're in Komurin right now. Are you ok in there Daisuke?"

"It's not Daisuke," replied the voice. "It's Dark. Is there any way of getting out?"

"None that we can think of right now," Lavi answered. "Is Daisuke ok?"

"Yeah he's just gonna be in shock for a while," Dark said off-handily. He seemed to bang around the metal chamber a bit before muttering, "Daisuke might be able to pick the door open; we'll just have to wait for him to come around. In the meantime though, I'd like to ask you a few questions."

"Why should we answer?" Kanda grumbled.

"_Because_," Dark drawled, sending a glare Kanda's way. "From what Dai's told me, you've basically shoved us into a war."

"I'm sorry Dark," Allen said. "He's got no choice. The innocence chose him. The world needs him now; there are only so many people who can fight akuma."

"He can get hurt in this war," Dark pointed out.

"It's not like he didn't get injured as a thief," Lavi countered.

"Physical injury isn't what I'm worried about," Dark muttered. "Daisuke's waking up, we'll pick this conversation up later; I don't want him feeling weighted by this."

A few seconds later, an accented version of Daisuke's voice called out. "Allen? Lavi?"

"Daisuke," Komui answered. "Everyone's here but please don't force your way out. I'll take the seal off and Kanda can...sl-slice Komurin open." Komui's voice hitched as he condemned his creation to death.

"No need Mr. Komui," Daisuke said. "I can get out on my own."

Movement sounded from within the fallen robot, followed by electrical sizzling and mechanical whirring. Before long, Komurin's chest swung open as Daisuke clambered out; he had picked and hacked into Komurin's system, with his hands still sealed no less. This did not go unnoticed by a certain junior bookman. Daisuke fell clumsily onto the tiled floor, curled stiffly into a ball and had all of two seconds before Komui descended on him with a hug to end all hugs.

"Oh Daisuke," he cried. "You didn't annihilate him! Everyone always destroys my Komurins, but you didn't!"

"Ano...," Daisuke breathed. "Komui-san, I mean, Mr. Komui, you are crushing my wings."

"Oh right!" Komui said, releasing the thief. He swept Komurin up and gave Daisuke a small two-fingered salute, "Well, I'm off to work! Daisuke if you're up to it, Timothy's down at the training rooms."

"It would be good to stretch," Daisuke replied. He stood shakily and almost fell back down before Kanda's arm shot out to steady him.

"Are you sure you can train gaki?" Kanda asked.

"Very sure Kanda-san," Daisuke smiled. "Thank you."

Once the Niwa was steadily on his feet, Komui waved a good-bye to them. "Keep him busy you three!"

* * *

A training room, Daisuke found out, was just a bare white room with padded floors. It was there that he met Timothy Hearst, a nine year old exorcist who took great pride in being an ex-phantom thief.

They stood staring at each other, a prime example of how diverse exorcists can be. On one side, there was Daisuke: flaming red hair, black accented ruby wings, and clad scantily in pyjama pants. On the other side, there was Timothy: bright blue locks, matching azure forehead-gem, and wearing his professional looking exorcist uniform.

Allen was just closing the door as Lavi introduced the two, "Timothy meet Daisuke; Daisuke meet Timothy."

"I thought you were coming with Kanda," Timothy said.

"He ditched us to go meditate," Lavi stated.

Timothy turned to peer at Daisuke. "He sure looks diff'rent."

"It is nice to meet you Timothy," Daisuke greeted, holding out a hand to shake.

Timothy regarded the hand apprehensively before flashing Daisuke with a grin and shaking it, "Nice to meet ya, Daisuke and thanks fer tryin to save me back then."

"You're welcome," Daisuke grinned back.

"Now then," Timothy said with an air of importance. "I hear you got two people in one body?"

"Yes," Daisuke answered.

"Well that's all I need to know," the kid announced. He stared hard at Daisuke's eyes, brown meeting red, before promptly fainting into Daisuke's arms.

Daisuke fell back under Timothy's weight. "Timothy! Are you fine?"

Timothy's eyes fluttered open as he answered, "Hello Niwa, has Master succeeded?"

"Wha—" Daisuke gasped before he brought a hand up to his face with a groan. He grit his teeth as his head exploded in pain. "You...you are the one who possesses others."

"Yup, that's Master's power," Timothy affirmed. He brought himself to his feet and helped Daisuke into a sitting position. "I'm Tsukikami by the way, Master's innocence."

Daisuke groaned again in response as Allen and Lavi strode over. "How is he?" the bookman asked.

"Master can't get any control," Tsukikami reported. "And I think the three of them are arguing in his head."

Allen peeled Daisuke's hand away from his face to see the Niwa's eyes closed tight. "Daisuke is it too much?"

A grunt this time as Daisuke slowly cracked his eyes open. Allen's breath caught watched Daisuke's eyes flicker back and forth from crimson to amethyst. The colors battled within his irises in eerie turmoil. "Please, can we stop? Dark and Timothy are—GET THIS BRAT OUT OF HERE—STOP CALLING ME A BRAT—not getting along."

"Ok Timothy," Allen said. "You've done as much good as you can."

Timothy's body rocked backwards as Daisuke, or rather Dark, shouted: "GOOD RIDDANCE!"

"Well you ain't so great yourself Dark!" Timothy shouted back.

"Learn anything?" Lavi prompted.

"Yeah," Timothy muttered. "Daisuke's a great guy and Dark's a complete jerk."

"Don't say that," Daisuke, and it _was_ Daisuke now because his eyes had settled into red, said. "He just takes getting used to."

"A LOT OF getting used to," Timothy huffed. "Well 'sides that, those two are like me 'n Tsukikami, nothin' special."

"Well, sorry for putting you through that Daisuke," Lavi apologized. "Are you still up for the training?"

"It's alright, just a headache," Daisuke sighed. He shook his head and stood slowly before adding, "Dark thinks training will do me good."

"Great," Allen chirped, activating his innocence. He pointed one clawed finger at Daisuke and smiled, "Let's start!"

Daisuke had two second's warning before Crown Clown's razor sharp edge was inches from his face. He side-stepped the attack and charged Allen, crouching low as he ran. Daisuke leaped over a kick Allen had aimed at his chest as the white-haired exorcist followed up with a straight right. The Niwa snapped his wings out and beat them, rising just enough to avoid another hit. Daisuke landed behind Allen and skidded a few feet before swinging around to face him again.

"Why didn't you hit me?" Allen asked, retracting Crown Clown back to its normal size. "You had an opportunity once you had your wings out; it was risky but you could have landed a hit. Then you had another chance when you landed behind me."

"I do not exactly aim to hit when I fight," Daisuke explained.

"But you _have_ been in lots of fights before," Lavi commented. "It's obvious when you dodge."

"It's coz he's a thief," Timothy said.

"Exactly," Daisuke agreed. Allen cocked an eyebrow at him and he continued, "When you are a thief, the priority is not to beat your opponent, it is to escape."

"So you don't take the initiative to attack," Allen simplified.

Daisuke nodded before adding, "But Dark can fight."

Lavi smiled and summarized, "So Dark can fight but can't use innocence, and you can use innocence but can't fight."

More nods from the Niwa and Allen sighed, "At least you _can_ fight, and that's something to work on before we try to activate your innocence."

"Well are you going to fight me now?"

Allen didn't need to check to know that Dark had come out.

* * *

An hour later and Dark was pinned face-down on the ground with Allen's claw pressing onto his folded red-tinged wings.

Lavi whistled a note and announced, "And that makes for the 22nd time."

"You're underestimating innocence again," Allen chided. "You're also too confident, Dark. Adapting is everything when you're fighting against akuma"

"Well fine," Dark grunted. "Now are you going to get off or what?"

Allen stepped off and de-activated his innocence as Dark sat up. "So are we going for another round?"

"Nah," Dark said, getting to his feet. "Dai's body's been through a lot today. We better get something to eat soon."

"FINALLY!" Timothy cried. "I thought we'd never get lunch."

"If you were so hungry, why didn't you say so?" Dark said, as he folded his wings in. Black coloured magic wrapped around them as they shrank back into the tattoo.

Timothy scuffed the ground a bit before muttering, "Master Klaud said she'd skin me alive if I interrupted your training."

"Well if we're going to the cafeteria it'd be best if you wore a shirt," Lavi said as he held out a white t-shirt.

"Why didn't you give me this sooner?!" Dark fumed

"You didn't ask," Lavi replied simply. Ignoring Dark's glares he added, "You might also want to go as Daisuke; we wouldn't want a repeat of your last visit to the cafeteria."

Allen stood next to the door in quiet conversation with Timcampy as Dark pulled the shirt over his head. Komui's voice drifted out of the golden golem's mouth while Lavi sauntered over to join the conversation.

"Tim can speak as Mr. Komui?" Daisuke asked, having apparently swapped with Dark already.

Timothy bit back a nasty retort, noticing the accent on the redhead's voice. "Oh, it's you Daisuke? Well, the golems can all kinda talk to each other so people can use them like walkie talkies; so Komui's probably talking through a radio golem somewhere."

"You seem to know a lot about the order Timothy," Daisuke commented. "How long have you been an exorcist?"

"Almost a full month now," Timothy answered proudly. "You're real lucky you have Allen as a Master, all the other generals are kinda cooky."

"Is Allen a general?" Daisuke asked.

"Nah," the blue-haired boy replied. "The higher-ups don't like Allen too much; they wouldn't make 'im a general."

Daisuke was a bit surprised. Komui looked like he cared for all the exorcists. "Komui doesn't like Allen?"

"I don't mean Komui," Timothy said. "He's just the Science Department Supervisor."

Before Daisuke could prod Timothy for more information, Allen called them over. He was ushering them out of the training room and into the Order's maze of hallways. Lavi lead the way and a few minutes later the group found themselves at the strangely quiet cafeteria entrance.

Allen and Lavi stood dramatically on either side of the double doors.

"And now," Lavi started. "It's time for you two go through what every exorcist in this Branch of the Black Order goes through."

"I'm sorry it took so long for you Timothy," Allen said. "Everyone was a bit busy with the move and all, and you're doubling up with Daisuke since he came so suddenly."

Both of them grinned as they pushed the doors open.

Timothy and Daisuke had half a second to take in the decorations, the people, and the banner before the entire Black Religious Organization European Branch shouted:

"WELCOME TIMOTHY AND DAISUKE!"

Lenalee and Komui stepped forward and added, "Welcome to the family."

Note: Next chapter's got a mission guys! Probably coming around March when Spring break starts. Olympic break's awesome though, WHO'S WATCHING THE OLYMPICS? I've seen the torch relay twice and the cauldron once; it's awesome guys. EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH THE CLOSING CEREMONIES.


	9. Chapter 7: The Paradox town I

**CHAPTER 7 : THE PARADOX TOWN I**

Daisuke dangled his legs through the railing of the busy wooden bridge he and the other exorcists were on. They were gathered on one side, staring at the train tracks bellow, as passerby scurried behind them. This was a busy bridge apparently, and a certain new exorcist was feeling very self-conscious.

"Why must we wear the uniforms _now_?" Daisuke asked, not liking the looks people were sending their way.

"They're a mark Dai," Lavi answered. "If we wear them then the police and authorities know that we're with the Black Order."

Daisuke looked at the ebony and silver-accented outfit that the order had customized for him. It was a long sleeved jacket with the Rose Cross emblazoned onto where a right breast pocket would be, right over the heart. The tailors had kindly added two slits on the jacket's back, held closed by large silver fasteners, for his wings. This was the only part of the uniform Daisuke liked; at least he didn't have to go ripping through coats again (it happened too often and coats were expensive). Everything else, from the flashy silver shoulder pads to the tight leather pants (which he found completely pointless and ridiculous), he absolutely hated. He would never say that aloud, though. "Lavi, we attract too much attention; people are staring."

Lavi gave him a look and grinned. "I happen to think you look very handsome Kaitou-chan!"

"Please don't call me by my work name," Daisuke mumbled, slumping down in his seat and blushing lightly. He tinkered a bit with a cluster of metal at his hands. "It is never good to attract too much attention."

"That's just your thief mentality talking; you should be more enthusiastic Dai. This is your first mission after all," Lavi said. Noticing ex-thief preoccupied with his hands he asked, "What's that you're fiddling with?"

"The toll collector for the bridge gave me some spare copper wire they had leftover from the tracks," Daisuke explained. "I needed something to do with my hands."

"Get ready!" Allen suddenly shouted, pulling Daisuke to his feet and attracting even _more_ attention.

Daisuke barely had time to stuff his wires into a pocket before Allen pulled him up to stand on the banister. Daisuke turned his head to see that Miranda and Lavi had stepped onto the narrow wooden strip as well. They stood there, precariously perched (although Miranda looked white as a ghost), for a few more moments before a sound crept through the surprised murmurings of the crowd that had gathered around them. It started out soft, like something far away. Then the sound grew and grew as its source drew closer. Soon the sound was thundering deafening even, as a train pulled itself forward to pass under the bridge.

"GO GO GO!" Allen was shouting again...and then they were falling. Daisuke didn't remember jumping.

The Niwa wanted to snap his wings out, to spread them, to catch the wind, anything to stop falling towards the roaring locomotive rushing to meet him. The train was moving so fast beneath them that its different cars blurred together. His back itched wildly as Daisuke held his wings in, suppressing his magic and trusting Allen's timing.

And as suddenly as they had jumped, they had landed.

After years of failed flights, acrobatic thievery and general clumsiness, Daisuke was very used to falling. But falling onto the ground, Daisuke learned, was vastly different from falling onto a moving train. He landed on his feet, allowing the momentum from his jump to force him onto all fours.

The wind buffeted his face as he heard Lavi bellow, "TUNNEL!"

Daisuke considered himself very lucky that he was already on all fours.

The tunnel swallowed their train and Daisuke was granted with the uncomfortable experience of moving high-speed in complete darkness with nothing to hold onto; the freezing cold gales weren't helping either. He felt something tap him from behind and turned to see Allen's fool's mask casting a dim light on everything. Lavi was nowhere to be seen and Daisuke felt panic bubble up before noticing Allen pointing at something further back on the car they were on.

Miranda's head was poking out of what looked to be a hatch and Allen was motioning towards it. Daisuke crawled to the hatch slowly, his nails trying to find purchase on the smooth metallic surface. The train's slipstream forced him to crouch low and progress was painfully slow.

After what seemed like hours Daisuke had closed the gap by only a few inches. Allen was growing frantic because the tunnel was ending soon. The whole point of doing this was to shake off any akuma that were on their trail. This would all be for nothing if Daisuke didn't make it into the car before they were out in open daylight again.

_Screw this, _Daisuke thought as he crouched lower, tensing his muscles. He sprang upwards, snapping his wings out and being mindful of the low tunnel ceiling. He caught just enough air to keep aloft for a quarter of a second as the train continued to race underneath him, before folding his wings back in and dropping into the car.

**You know you wanted to, **Dark commented. Daisuke could feel his other side smirking at him. **Don't deny it, you haven't flown in forever.**

_It's only been a few days Dark, _Daisuke thought back, getting out of the way for Allen to clamber in.

**Whatever you say Dai,** Dark sing-songed.

"Daisuke," Miranda called, jolting the Niwa out of his internal conversation. "Your wings are still out."

Sunlight poured in as the train sped out of the tunnel. Daisuke pulled his wings in and squinted at his surroundings. They were surrounded by boxes and sacks, the stale smell of dust permeating everything in their medium sized car. Lavi was already slumped on a couple of sacks, while Miranda sat daintily on a box next to him. Allen was still bathed in the afterglow of deactivating his innocence and stood on a wooden bucket, locking down the hatch on the ceiling.

"How long will the trip be?" Daisuke asked, fumbling with the silver snaps on his wing holes.

"A good two hours more," Miranda answered.

Daisuke sighed and sat cross-legged on the floor, leaning against the car's wall. Everything jumped as the train passed over a particularly big bump on the tracks. The Niwa took his wires out and continued to tinker with it.

**This is going to be SO boring, **Dark droned.

Thank you Captain Obvious.

* * *

The sun shone strongly on the group as they hopped out of their car. It was a bright winter day and the snow was powdery on the streets.

Daisuke stretched his stiff back as they walked through narrow cobblestoned streets. The town they were in was a quiet trading post where goods would travel via the main river and the many canals that formed a web throughout the entire area. The town was aptly named Riverport.

"So did you finish your wire statue?"

Daisuke smiled at Miranda's off handed comment. "It's a sculpture actually, and yes I did finish."

The Niwa brought out a tiny copper wire dragon. The wires had twisted together to form a spine, and from that spine sprouted ribs, legs, arms, wings, a neck and a tail. Its wings were a latticework, connected by a length of wire that ran down to the arrow tipped tail.

Lavi gave a long whistle of awe. "So that's what you were hunched over for the entire two hours."

"It's beautiful Daisuke," Miranda praised with a weak smile.

Timcampy, who had been sitting on Allen's head the entire time, zipped over to hover questioningly in front of the sculpture. The tiny dragon took up all the space in Daisuke's palm and was almost as big as the golden golem. Timcampy placed a stubby arm on the dragon's tail and watched as the wings moved with the tail's descent. Enraptured, Tim then began gnawing on the moving sculpture. Why you ask? Nobody knows...

"That's some toy you've made Dai," Lavi said. "You don't mind if I take it do you?"

"Of course not," Daisuke replied. "But what will you do with it?"

Lavi plucked the sculpture out of Daisuke's palm and yanked Timcampy off. "Nothing really, but it's always nice to have something cool in your pocket. You'll never know when it'll come in handy."

"This town's pretty big," Allen reported. He had walked ahead of them while they were fussing over Daisuke's dragon and was now staring at a pinned up town map. "I don't think we'll be able to cover everything today."

"Best to get started then," Lavi chirped. He pushed Daisuke towards Allen and spun Miranda around to face westward. "Miranda and I will go and ask around on the streets. Allen, you and your _student_ can go and dig around elsewhere."

Daisuke watched Lavi and Miranda disappear into the crowd before looking skywards. "It's almost noon," he mumbled.

"Then we should get going too," Allen declared with a final glance at the map. He strode off purposely in a random direction and waited for Daisuke to follow.

"Ano...," Daisuke hummed as he studied the map more. "Where are supposed to be going Allen? The police station?"

"That's the last place we should look," Allen replied. "Shady things happen in shady places. Our first stop is the local pub."

The Niwa pointed in a direction opposite Allen and said, "Then we will want to go in _that _direction. If you keep going that way we will arrive at the local brothel."

Allen gave an embarrassed chuckle and flushed pink. "That way it is then!"

**Well at least I know we're in good hands, **Dark commented dryly.

Daisuke frowned and asked: _why do you hate them so much anyway?_

Dark didn't answer.

Daisuke's expression soured when he sensed his curse drifting into a far corner in his mind. It irritated him to no end whenever Dark chose to ignore him. How do you ignore someone when you share a body with them? Honestly, for a 300 year old entity Dark could be such a child sometimes. A few minutes passed of Daisuke badgering Dark for an answer before he tripped on an uneven bit of cobblestone.

"Daisuke you look like you've just sucked on a lemon," Allen said jokingly as the Niwa stumbled.

"Wha-," Daisuke sputtered. He didn't realize that he'd been making faces. "It's nothing, just an argument with Dark."

"I suggest you patch it up now," Allen warned, suddenly serious. He came to a stop in front of a worn down two-storey cottage and added, "We're here. Put up your best poker face and come on."

They didn't get very far. Apparently, the pub's bouncer and he thought they were much too young to go into the big scary bar.

"Hold it right there," the bouncer ordered. He was a big man. Actually that was an understatement, he was a giant. He stood hunched in front of the doorway and his body blocked any access into the building. Curiously, his wide shoulders, ample girth and stocky legs made him look oddly rectangular, as if he'd been moulded to fit into the doorway. "You two're way too young to be going in here."

"How old would we have to be to go in," Allen asked coolly.

"The boss says eighteen," the bouncer replied. "The red head might pass but dying your hair white ain't gonna make you look older, kid."

"I am sure we can pass as eighteen," Daisuke commented before Allen could do anything. "After all, only eighteen year olds would have _this_ much money."

The bouncer gawked at the heavy pouch of money that Daisuke held out. The Niwa jostled it idly in his palm and the coins inside jingled. "That's mine!!"

Daisuke looked at the pouch and gasped in mock surprise. "Oh is it?"

An almost feral growl escaped the bouncer's lips before he lunged. Daisuke and Allen easily sidestepped the attack. Daisuke went the extra mile and tripped the bouncer as the man's face met dirt. Allen had a growing suspicion that Daisuke wasn't in control of his body anymore. A quick glance at Daisuke's dark amethyst eyes confirmed it. Allen sighed; at least he was getting better at telling the difference between the two.

"Is this yours too?" Dark asked, examining a long dagger that had come out of nowhere.

The bouncer hastily got to his feet and patted at the empty sheath on his hip. He barked out a curse before jumping back, Dark had thrown the knife at his feet. "You wanna fight that bad? Then get over here and---"

"Look mister," Dark interrupted, tossing the bag of money at him. "All the two of us want is to get into the damn pub. You want to stay here and drive paying customers away? Fine, you want to just let us in and pretend nothing happened? That's fine too."

"Just let the damn kids in already."

Daisuke and Allen turned back to the doorway and saw an old wizened man. An irritated expression had planted itself on his wrinkled face. He had an apron tied around his waist and, off-white towel slung on his shoulder, and a hair tie around a thinning white ponytail. The bouncer pushed past the two exorcists and mumbled a quick "Sorry boss."

Allen stepped up to the old man and asked, "Are you the owner?"

"I'm the barkeep too," the man replied. "Now get in already, you two have gathered a crowd."

"Thank you," Allen said as he and Dark followed the man in.

The old man huffed and added, "Tell your friend to keep his hands to himself. I can tell he's a professional pickpocket."

Looking back at his companion, Allen saw that Dark had a hand pressed against his forehead. His eyes were shut tight. As soon as the ex-thief heard the owner's comment he cracked open a ruby red eye and gave Allen a light nod.

"Don't worry, he won't cause any more trouble," Allen assured.

The two of them followed the owner in while their friend the bouncer glared at them from the doorway. Daisuke and Allen sat side by side at the surprisingly clean counter and ordered a coffee each.

"What exactly would the Order want here?" the barkeep asked casually as he set their cups down.

Allen took a sip of the bitter black coffee and answered with a question of his own, "You know who we are?"

"Boy when you live as long as I have, you get to know things," the man responded.

"Then would you know if anything strange has been happening?" Allen questioned.

The barkeep picked up a perfectly clear glass and started polishing it. "That depends on what you consider weird."

Allen continued to interrogate the old man while Daisuke's eyes darted around the room. Pale winter sunlight streaked in through dusty windows. A fire crackled on the hearth, casting a flickering light on the pub's inhabitants. They were a mix of people, some were typical drunks, reeking of alcohol when it was only a bit past noon, others looked more civilized, taking dainty sips of tea or coffee as they read the paper.

Daisuke was turning back to the barkeep, intending to try and join the conversation, when something caught his eye: there was a painting hanging on the wall behind the counter. Something was off with it...

_Dark? Is it me or is this painting...,_ Daisuke started. He didn't have to finish the thought because Dark was already agreeing with him. He didn't get a proper reply though, just the general feeling of a 'yes'. Dark was still in tantrum mode. Daisuke sent a mental sigh Dark's way and hoped his curse would get over it soon.

The barkeep was shaking his head when Daisuke turned his attention back to Allen's interrogation. "Nothing related to those devils is happening here," he was saying. "I'm sure of it."

"So there have been no disturbances?" Allen pressed. "No fights, nothing gone missing?"

"Nothing," the barkeep answered. "You're welcome to look around town. Good luck though, even locals get lost here."

A frustrated Allen dropped a few coins on the counter. "Thank you for your time. My friend and I should be on our way if what you say is true."

The white-haired exorcist stood and tapped Daisuke on the shoulder. "It looks like we're going to have to get lost today anyway."

"Wait," Daisuke said. He turned to the old barkeep and asked, "Who is in that painting?"

"Ahh," the barkeep sighed. The old man looked up at the portrait and smiled. It was a middle-aged woman, dressed in a simple dress and looking like the happiest woman in the world. "That's my late wife. We were so young when I had this done; it's been so many years..."

"If you don't mind me asking," Daisuke started. At the old man's nod he continued, "How long ago exactly?"

Allen regarded his trainee a bit suspiciously. He knew that the redhead had a certain love for art but this had nothing to do with the mission. But something stopped him from hauling Daisuke away to start searching. Maybe the ex-thief knew something he didn't.

Caught off guard by the question, the barkeep answered slowly, "That painting was done around fifty years ago."

"That can't be right," Daisuke declared.

The barkeep's forehead scrunched in what might have been anger. "Are you saying I'm getting senile kid?"

"No," the Niwa replied. "I am saying that something strange is definitely going on in this town, because that painting is at least one hundred years old."

* * *

"Someone's been following us," Lavi announced.

A shocked Miranda turned pale and stuttered, "R-really?"

They had been walking through town asking random people about current happenings. So far the most interesting thing they'd heard was that a new mayor had been elected around a month ago. But for the past few minutes, the bookman had noticed they had a stalker.

"Is he dangerous?" Miranda asked.

"Nah," Lavi grinned. "From the racket he's making, I think our stalker's just a kid with nothing to do."

"That's a relief," Miranda sighed. She looked up at a clock tower and said, "At least we still have a few hours of daylight. It's around 12---GASP!"

"What?" Lavi asked, snapping his head to look her. She had frozen to the spot; the only part of her moving (actually more of twitching) was her arm, which was pointing incredulously at the clock on the top of the tower...or what should have been a clock.

Instead of round, the new...clock was rectangular. Instead of white with black numeric symbols painted on, the new clock was jet black with unnatural glowing green numbers. The thing didn't even have arms on it, just a pair of blinking dots between the 12 and the 32.

"What the hell is that," Lavi breathed.

"You don't know?" Miranda asked.

"No, I don't," Lavi answered. This was bothersome...but definitely more interesting than the boring new mayor.

"D'you like our shiny new clock?"

Lavi and Miranda turned at the new voice (interestingly enough, the exact same time Allen and Daisuke were called in by the barkeep) and found themselves looking down at a grimy faced toddler. The kid had rumpled dirty blonde hair and a potato sack flung over his shoulder. He puffed his chest out and proclaimed, "Our new mayor gave us that clock!"

_Ok, maybe the new mayor isn't so boring after all_, Lavi thought to himself. Bending down to the kid's level he asked, "What else has the new mayor done?"

"Plenty of stuff!" the boy replied. "He makes a lot of new toys and ever since he came night time's a lot cooler than before."

Lavi cocked his head to the side. "What kinda toys?"

"Most of them look like the shiny clock; they light up without fire and're made of iron," the kid rambled. He stuck a finger in his mouth before mumbling, "But some of 'em are really old and boring so I don't care much for them."

"Do you have one?" Lavi asked.

"Well duh!" the kid giggled. "Every kid has one! The grown-ups don't like 'em but that makes them even cooler."

"Why is night time so um...cool here?" Miranda prodded, getting down beside Lavi.

"Well, the grown-ups don't like talking about it but there are stories of monsters going out after dark," the kid started, looking over his shoulder as if someone were listening in on what he was about to say. Then he whispered, "And I've seen 'em."

"Do you know where they go?" Miranda pressed.

"Well," the kid started again. But he didn't continue. A sly grin stretched across his face as he asked, "What's in it for me if I tell ya?"

Miranda dug into her pockets and brought out the spare bag of candy she brought in case anyone needed cheering up. "What about some sweets?"

"Hmmm," the boy hummed, tapping his chin. "Well it's some important stuff I'm gonna be tellin' ya..."

"Tell you what," Lavi chirped. He brought out Daisuke's copper dragon and presented it to the kid. "If I throw in this toy then you have to tell us where the monsters come from _and_ give us your iron toy."

"I dunno," the kid mumbled.

"It moves too," Lavi mentioned, levering the dragon's tail and flapping its wings. "Buuuuut, if you don't want to trade then I guess we'll find some _other_ kid..."

"FINE," the kid said. He snatched the dragon out of Lavi's hand and inspected it, turning it this way and that and holding it up against the sun. After he was done with that, the boy dumped his potato sack on the ground and reached into it, shuffling through its contents and bringing out a strange black-silver object. "There's my toy. It doesn't do much besides scratch stuff but there it is."

Lavi pocketed the 'toy' and got up, helping Miranda to her feet as he asked. "And?"

"Oh yea," the kid pointed at a house on a hill northbound and said, "The monsters all come from the mayor's house."

Lavi gave the kid a two fingered salute and smiled. "Pleasure doing business with you!"

Note: OMG this is my first ever story arc! I'm going to have SO much fun with the 'toy'. You'll see what it is next chapter.


	10. Chapter 8: The Paradox Town II

Note: There's a surprise at the bottom of this chapter~~~~~~~

**CHAPTER 8 : PARADOX TOWN II**

The barkeep stopped polishing at Daisuke's declaration. His hands shook, setting down the glass as they wrung the dingy dishrag. "Say that again?"

"That painting is at least a hundred years old," Daisuke repeated, looking thoughtful.

"Daisuke...," Allen cautioned.

"Boy that woman was my life," the barkeep said quietly. "You'd do good to stop fooling with her memory."

"But I am entirely serious," Daisuke persisted. The Niwa studied the portrait more before explaining "If you look closely at the strokes and compare it to the weathering of the—"

Allen grabbed the ex-thief's arm, pulled him back and shot him a warning look that very clearly meant 'shut up'. Looking over at the door, Allen could see that the bouncer was sending them a murderous glare. "Excuse my friend sir. He likes to think of himself as an art expert."

The red head grumbled as he tried unsuccessfully to talk around Allen's barrage of apologies. Seeing no way to get a word in, Daisuke was forced to wait, silenced, while the old man stared holes into him.

"You shouldn't go around disrespecting the dead," he chastised. Looking up at them with tired eyes he added, "Now get out of here before I let Bruno over there have his way with you."

"My apologies once again sir," Allen said as he dragged Daisuke out, hand still firmly clamped over the latter's mouth.

The moment the two were out of earshot and back out on the streets, the bartender let out a sigh, calling his bouncer over. The heavyset man ambled closer and leaned down to his employer's eye level. "Are we going to tell him Boss?"

"We don't have to Bruno," the old man rasped. He spat, as if the words left a horrible taste in his mouth. "The mayor has eyes everywhere; he probably already knows."

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Allen stared disapprovingly at his companion as they walked the streets of Riverport. Even if the bartender didn't have any information they still could have prodded the other customers. After what Daisuke said about the old man's wife, they probably wouldn't be able to get back in for another week. Allen had planned to stay in the pub for a good chunk of the afternoon, and then go out onto the streets at sunset when the shadier characters would be out. Now they had no choice but to wander around town until they found something interesting.

"Daisuke," Allen started. "What exactly were you trying to do back there?"

The ex-thief had a thoughtful look on his face as he answered, "I was trying to get a reaction from him."

"A reaction?"

"Yes," Daisuke nodded. "He did not seem very bothered by the painting's age."

"I don't really think he believed you Daisuke," Allen pointed out.

"I am not sure of that," Daisuke mumbled. He stopped walking and turned to face the other exorcist. "I think he knew already."

"Knew about what?"

"About the things happening," Daisuke said. He frowned before adding, "It's very hard to explain but the painting _felt_ like it was over a hundred years old. So I am very sure it is. But the man did not call me crazy...maybe he's just cautious...but why would he...demo boku wa..."

The Niwa turned away from Allen and made his way to a bench on the side of the street, mumbling Japanese at himself as he went. Allen sighed and followed his new apprentice, guessing that Daisuke was having a conversation with the voice in his head. In the two weeks that Daisuke had been with the Order, he had never lapsed back into his first language. But according to Timothy, Daisuke thought/spoke to Dark in Japanese; it was the reason they had all gotten into so much conflict when the kid-exorcist had invaded the Niwa's mind.

They sat there for a while, Daisuke quietly conversing to himself and Allen silently observing passerby. The white-haired exorcist sighed and wondered whether or not this town really had any akuma in it. His eye hadn't activated yet and they had pretty much covered the entire area in his range during their walk. So the only place left for the devils to hide would be the outskirts, yet according to the town records the only people who lived there were the richer families.

Allen let out a frustrated groan and palmed his face, running his fingers through his hair. This wasn't for him; figuring these things out was supposed to be Lavi's job.

"OH ALLEEEEEEEEEEEN~!"

Smiling to himself, Allen stood and waved at the bookman before he shouted out anything particularly embarrassing. "Hello Lavi, Miranda. How did your search go?"

"It went GREAT!" Lavi exclaimed, proudly holding up a smooth, oddly shaped black object. "We managed to get this baby."

The object vaguely resembled a gun, though it wasn't _nearly_ as big as Master Cross's. It could only be classified as a gun by its shape, because it had no barrel, no safety, and was too thin to even hold any bullets. It _did_ have a trigger though, which Lavi's finger rested dangerously on. Thankfully, the not-gun was pointed at the ground.

"What exactly is that?" Allen asked.

"We're actually not so sure," Miranda confessed. "But the boy we got it from said it was one of the many strange 'toys' that the neighbourhood kids have been collecting."

"Toys?" Allen repeated. "You mean there are more of these?"

Lavi bit his lip and thought a bit. "Well not of these per se, but Allen, you should have seen their clock tower. It shone green!"

"Green?" Daisuke croaked, snapping out of his one-man conversation. "What shade of green?"

Rolling his eyes at the sudden random question Lavi replied, "A bright shade, brighter than anything I've ever seen. And hello to you too Daisuke."

"Do you have any idea what the 'toy' is?" Allen questioned, shifting the conversation back to the not-gun.

"None whatsoever," Lavi declared, holding the not-gun up at arm level and pointing it at the wood of the bench. Nobody noticed Daisuke's strangled gasp as the bookman's finger tightened over the trigger. "It doesn't even shoot well."

Suddenly, Daisuke lunged forward and slapped the not-gun out of Lavi's hand, snatching it out of the air as it fell. The Niwa pointed it at the ground as he fumbled with the not-gun's grip.

"Geez Daisuke," Lavi whined. "I _told_ you the thing wouldn't shoot."

"It's not supposed to shoot," Daisuke said, still fiddling with it. "Not bullets anyway."

"What else would it shoot?" Allen asked.

Daisuke's hands stopped working for a while as he thought. "Lodes," he answered as he continued picking at the not-gun. A few seconds later, the not-gun popped open, ejecting two tubes of something. He visibly relaxed as the two somethings clanked against the cobblestone path. Handing the not-gun back to Lavi he announced, "Ok, it is safe now."

Miranda spoke up and broke the awkward silence that followed. "Safe from what?"

"Safe from that," Daisuke said, pointing at the not-gun. At everyone's questioning stares, he elaborated: "It shoots electricity. It's called a taser."

Lavi examined the taser and turned it around a few times in his hands. "And those things that fell out of it?"

"They are batteries," Daisuke answered. "They give energy. Without them, the taser cannot work."

Allen gave his apprentice an odd look and let out a sigh (it seemed like he'd been doing that a lot since Daisuke came along). "We'll have to talk more about this later when we settle in an inn for the night. There's one last place I want to check and I'd prefer it if we all went together."

Everyone conceded and falling on the old dependable safety-in-numbers rule, they made their way towards the town outskirts.

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Allen's eye activated just as the group left the city boundaries. They tensed, moving into a loose formation while they walked. The eye's whirring intensified the further they went from the town. The road the exorcists plodded along on cut straight through the forest in a direct path to the mayor's home.

"How many are there?" Lavi asked quietly. He shivered; a winter chill was sweeping by as the sun sank under the horizon.

"I can't be sure with their power levels," Allen replied. "They could be anywhere from 50-100. There's no chance of turning back now that they know we're here."

Four against fifty at best and four against a hundred at worst...Daisuke did not like these odds.

Lavi turned to the Niwa and smiled, "Look sharp Kaitou-chan and good luck!"

And then all hell broke loose.

Akuma poured in from every direction. They hid in the shadows, flickering through the twilight. They rushed at the foursome, claws and weapons unsheathed. And they fell, one by one to the exorcists' holy innocence.

Allen had his Crown Clown's sword out and was running around, bouncing off trees, rocks, and anything in the immediate vicinity, slashing at anything that came his way. Lavi stood anchored next to Miranda, swinging his mallet around in wide, deadly arcs. The dreary female exorcist was kneeling down, her Time Record glowing to life.

Daisuke knew that this formation allowed for maximum akuma extermination while still keeping Miranda and her invaluable innocence protected. Allen had briefed him on strategies before coming on the trip. But since the white-haired exorcist had gotten lost on his way to the ex-thief's room, that briefing turned into a 5-minute cram session. From the overall deer-in-the-headlights reaction he was experiencing, Daisuke could confidently say that the cram session was not helping the situation at all.

Something slammed into him, heaving him off the ground and knocking the wind out of him. Daisuke didn't go far; luckily a very helpful (and pointy) tree stopped him from falling into the forest. From his perch on a branch, he saw Lavi's hammer retreating back and an akuma where he'd been a moment ago. The Bookman had a serious expression on his face. His eye focused on Daisuke before he hollered, "No spacing out, activate your innocence!"

The ex-thief jumped, sending a thought to his inner curse. _Dark remember, the less we interact with each other, the more the innocence works. So you need to lay low alright?_ A general sense of agreement washed over Daisuke's consciousness. Not knowing if Dark was still in tantrum mode or if he was _already_ minimizing contact, the redhead dove into the sea of dark matter below.

He plummeted, popping his wings out and streamlining himself to maximize speed. Daisuke knew that he wouldn't be much help in the battle. They'd all discovered the ex-thief's limit during training; Daisuke could only keep his innocence activated for six minutes at most before the synch rate dropped too low. Those six minutes had to count.

Daisuke heard a sonorous crack as he landed on an akuma's head, bending its back into a ridiculous angle. The ex-thief locked his legs around the monster's head and wrenched his body clockwise, right wing pumping powerfully. More clicks sounded while Daisuke leapt away. Crouching into a fighting stance, the Niwa looked around, knowing that Allen and Lavi had probably already decimated a good chunk of the enemy. The glowering demon eyes that surrounded him seemed to say otherwise.

"HAHAHAHA!"

Familiar eerie laughter echoed as the broken-necked akuma cackled. Its skeletal head hung limply to the side as the mouth shook with glee. Not even bothering to reposition its head, it pointed a whirring mechanical finger at the Niwa. The smooth surface of its raised arm undulated, sloshing like molten bone. Moments later a canon was where its arm was, aimed straight at Daisuke's head. Light pooled in its hollow interior as the akuma screamed. "You're going to have to do a LOT more than that exorcist!"

Daisuke barely managed to dodge the compressed sphere of miasma that shot towards him. As soon as his feet touched the ground again, he saw another shot coming out of the corner of his eye. He twisted out of the way, only to have something barrel into his left wing. Daisuke clenched his teeth while sickening pain seeped from the impact point. He turned to where the hit had come from. Floating several feet above the tight ring of akuma was a corroded ball of metal. The pentacle on its shrivelled head visible as silver spokes jutted out of it. One of the spokes was pointed at him and smoking.

Thunderous laughter exploded from the ring of demons.

"A level 1!" a raspy voice exclaimed. "The exorcist is about to get done in by a level 1!"

Slowly, the ex-thief stretched his poisoned wing in front of himself, checking the damage while the akuma were busy laughing at his weakness. The signature stars of the akuma poison were already blackening half the wing. The black terrified him. It wasn't the same black of Dark's glossy raven wings. It was a dull black, a putrid black, a killing black.

Suddenly, Daisuke felt that strange spark again, tingling in his chest. He recognized this feeling. Memories of Krad's shiny new akuma form and Timothy's crumbling borrowed body flashed through Daisuke's mind. He knew what this feeling was. It was innocence.

The new energy surged through him, purging his body of the deadly poison. His wings snapped up, flaring with evanescent brilliance. He stood there for a while, basking in the crimson light of his wings as the akuma closest to him shrivelled up.

The laughter stopped abruptly, replaced with raucous cries of bloodlust.

Daisuke charged forward in a random direction, bringing his gleaming wings up in front of him as a make shift shield. He felt the akuma's bodies batter them and heard them hiss as if they had been stung. Steeling his nervousness, the ex-thief plucked a few good sized feathers off the inside of his wings and unfurled them. The akuma that had crowded around were pushed back, burns evident where they had touched Daisuke's innocence. The Niwa held the feathers between fingers, using them as close range weapons.

Fighting was something Daisuke took great pains to avoid. Even with all the heists he'd pulled, the Niwa could still count the number of fights he'd been in on one hand. It was always hit and run; he'd never killed anyone in his life. And here he was trying to destroy an army of deceased souls.

_Everything in my life has changed so much since I left Azumano..._, Daisuke thought as the feathers between his fingers shone with power. _I can't go back...I can never go back._

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Allen watched the newest exorcist hack his way through the level 1's and 2's swamping him. Daisuke didn't have any fighting style. He just dodged every hit that came his way and slashed at anything that came close. His wings still charged with innocence and curved around his body, forcing akuma away from his back and sides. Occasionally, Daisuke would flail his wings, spreading innocence infused feathers and battering akuma that got too close.

"Is your mind wandering exorcist?"

Snapping his attention back to the trio of level 3's heckling him, Allen raised his sword, "Just looking out for a friend."

"He doesn't seem to be doing that well," level 3.1 commented, dodging Allen's swipe.

"No, not well at all," level 3.2 agreed. It rushed at Allen, catching him off-balance as the exorcist was carried by the momentum of his previous attack. Twisting his legs to an angle, Allen deflected the attack with a well-timed kick.

"In fact," 3.3 mumbled to a still airborne Allen. It held a hand above its eyes in an over-exaggerated gesture and continued. "It looks like that level 4's having a _great_ time with him."

Landing hard on the ground, Allen swung his sword in a full circle, clearing the immediate vicinity of akuma. Once he was sure he'd have a minute of relative safety Allen looked over at where he'd last seen his apprentice and felt the bile rise in his throat.

Of _course_ a level 4 had to be here. It fit right in with the rest of the rotten luck that seemed to surround Daisuke.

As he waded/hacked his way through the horde of demons Allen could see that Daisuke was just as messed up by the level 4 as he was. The Niwa was shaking, his wings rusting in their fading luminescence. Head bowed down in exhaustion, Daisuke fought against the enormous level 2 that forced him to kneel to the faux angelic demon walking towards him. The level 2 had a finger pushing against Daisuke's spine, right in between his wings. The rest of its hand was wrapped around the redhead's torso, squeezing him half to death from the look of the weakening struggles.

When Allen finally reached Daisuke, the redhead's innocence had completely sputtered out as he hung limply in the oversized devils hand. Grumbling, the level two repositioned its fingers around the now harmless wings, crushing them. The level 4 was examining the ex-thief's crimson wings with eerie rapture before Crown Clown forced him away. It stumbled back drunkenly, chattering to itself. "What a straaaaange human that is! He's like an angel!"

Choosing to ignore the level 4's senseless ramblings for the time being, Allen made quick work of the level 2, annihilating it. Daisuke slunk to the ground barely conscious and bleeding. Allen could see poison spreading where the ex-thief had been held by the level 2.

"Daisuke," Allen called, shaking his apprentice. "You need to activate again. The poison's still lethal to you if you don't purge it out with innocence."

Daisuke groaned as his wings flashed a weak pinkish glow.

Allen watched, unsurprised as the crimson feathers darkened to black. "Can you move?"

"_I_ can," Dark replied, gingerly prodding a few cuts he'd gotten from the fight. "But Daisuke's not gonna be waking up anytime soon and his body can't take much more of this strain."

"That's good enough," Allen said. He studied the purple bruising around Dark/Daisuke's ribs and added, "Can you get to Miranda?"

"I can get to her, but what about _that_?" Dark asked, jerking his head to the level 4. He shuddered. "That's gotta be one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen."

"I'll take care of it," Allen assured. "Just get to Miranda. As soon as she heals you up head back to town and try and call for back-up."

"I'm not running away from these freaks," Dark argued. "There's no way you and the one-eyed wonder can fight your way through all of _this_."

"_You_ won't be any help," Allen reminded. "Your magic hasn't been tested on them yet and now's not the best time to be experimenting. We'll just surrender; they'll probably take us to the mayor, which was where we meant to go anyway."

"Daisuke wouldn't want me to abandon his new comrades," Dark mumbled.

Allen was a bit shocked at the statement. "Don't worry, Lavi and I have gotten into a lot worse than this."

Dark's amethyst eyes bored into the senior exorcist's clockwork eye. After a few more moments of scrutinizing, the thief sighed. "I guess I'm going to have to trust you exorcist."

And with that he was gone, lost in the chaos of battle.

"Awwwww, you let him go!"

Turning his attention back to the level 4 Allen grit his teeth and asked. "What _are_ you planning to do with us?"

"Well take you to the manor of course! The master was very excited to meet you all," the level 4 answered gleefully. Rubbing its chin and donning a thoughtful expression it added. "Though he was _most_ excited to meet the angel exorcist, it can't be helped. He was weak anyways. Does this mean you and hammer guy are surrendering?"

Allen looked skyward to see a shadow pass by, too big to be a bird and too small to be an akuma, glinting with Time Record's power.

"I guess it does," Allen murmured.

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"These dungeons are coooooooold," Lavi announced.

"That's generally how dungeons work," voiced their cellmate.

"Why does this manor have a dungeon anyway...," the bookman grumbled. "Hey Allen, your plan's going swell by the way."

"We still got _in _though," Allen stated. "And with fewer injuries than if we had to fight our way through."

Apparently, the level 4 had thought it best for the exorcists to cool down for a bit in the completely hospitable underground dungeons. Allen and Lavi had been thrown into the only cell. It was cavernous and only held one other occupant other than themselves.

"So what're you in for?" Lavi asked the blue-haired bespectacled youth sitting in the corner of their prison.

"I'm in here for being the only sane person in this backwards town," he replied.

"Do tell," Lavi prodded.

Sighing, the boy elaborated. "I'm the puppet mayor of Riverport."

"Oh? You seem a bit young to be mayor," Allen commented to the teen.

"The only reason they chose me was because I know how to operate the technology they keep bringing back," Blue explained. "They keep me locked up so I don't tell anyone about the monsters that _really_ run the town."

"That makes sense...," Lavi said thoughtfully.

"Don't worry Mr. Mayor. We'll get the town back to normal," Allen guaranteed. Holding a hand out, he introduced himself. "My name is Allen Walker and this is Lavi Bookman. We're exorcists."

Blue regarded the hand a bit sceptically before pushing his glasses up and shaking it. "My name is Satoshi Hikari, pleased to make your acquaintance."


	11. Chapter 9: The Paradox Town III

Note: Kinda long chapter for being SO OVERLY LATE IN UPDATING D: sorry guys! And it's summer too so I have no excuse other than working on my (twin) original stories. If anyone's interested there's a link on my profile (like anyone's really gonna look :D) At least I've got the next chapter planned out and started already so I THINK I can update it by August...

BTW _**this is Dark think-talking to Daisuke **_and _this is Daisuke think-talking to Dark_

* * *

**CHAPTER 9 : PARADOX TOWN III**

"Stop wringing my neck," Dark croaked as he landed soundlessly on a barren tree branch. Displaced snow dropped to the ground as he attempted to set his passenger down.

"Sorry!" Miranda squeaked, loosening the death grip she had on Dark's neck. Flying was _not_ a very relaxing experience to the inexperienced.

The bough creaked dangerously beneath them as Miranda tried to find ice-free footing. Dark crouched down and peered through the darkness, observing their surroundings. The sun had completely set and the long winter night had just begun. "Deactivate your innocence," he ordered.

"B-but if I do your injuries will come back," Miranda stuttered, clinging to the tree trunk.

"I know that you idiot," Dark said, rolling his eyes. "But with the glow it's giving off, we might as well hold up a sign that says 'hey akuma kill us now!'"

Miranda was a bit taken back by Dark's rudeness. She kept having to remind herself that even if Dark _looked_ exactly like Daisuke (save for the eye color), he was an entirely different person altogether. Steeling herself, she turned to the amethyst-eyed thief. "I will deactivate Time Record when we get into the inn."

Dark gave her a glare before hopping off the branch—twenty or so feet to the ground, leaving Miranda effectively stranded.

"Dark!" she called as he plummeted. She watched him land silently on the ground and walk nonchalantly into the nearby inn. Passerby never even noticed him.

Miranda Lotto was just dumbstruck by Dark's abandon. She sat there for a while, unmoving in her innocence's dim glow. Then suddenly it all made sense. She'd probably done something horribly wrong. She'd probably messed up her job _again._ Oh god it was happening AGAIN. EVERY SINGLE THING she did always ended up in failure...

"Hey," hissed a voice, snapping Miranda out of her reverie. Wildly looking around she saw a strange looking purple haired man staring at her through an open window. Oddly enough, he seemed very vexed at the perched exorcist.

"Well?" he asked. "Come in already!"

"Um...," she said intelligently.

He rolled his eyes and leaned over the windowsill. "It's Dark!"

"W-why yes it is Sir," she replied cautiously, pressing herself closer to the tree's rough bark. Could Dark cast illusions? "The sun has gone down you see."

"Come on exorcist," he hissed. "This is no time for doubt. Just get in."

"P-prove it." Failure or not, Miranda was still trained as an exorcist. Scepticism was now second-nature.

"My name is Dark Mousy, I live in Daisuke Niwa's head," he prattled. "Your name is Miranda Lotto and _you_ should be in here trying to contact headquarters. If you're still sceptical, then deactivate your innocence and all the injuries Daisuke had should come back. "

"No, I b-believe you," she mumbled. Glancing fearfully at the distance between her branch and the window sill, she hesitated for a moment before leaping off.

First came the split-second feeling of weightlessness, and then came the never-ending feeling of plummeting-to-your-death-ness.

"Geez," Dark groaned, grabbing her arm. He pulled her up in one tug and into the room with another. She landed heavily on the wooden floor. Sighing, Dark helped her up and commented, "You know, jumping off a branch, people normally try and keep their eyes open so they can see where they're going."

Snapping open eyes she didn't remember closing, the pessimistic exorcist took deep calming breaths as she shakily got to her feet. She looked up at the slightly-taller-than-before man and thanked him.

"We have to keep a low profile," he informed her as he shut the window. "It seems like those akuma have spread the word that we're out to get the mayor."

"Then the disguise," Miranda thought out loud. If they'd recognized him then the akuma would be all over them in a matter of minutes.

"Was to get into the inn," Dark confirmed. "It's just a bit of magic. They were still suspicious of everyone checking in though, so I had to sneak a key off the desk."

"You stole us a room?" she asked, taking a radio golem out from her pocket. It was huddled into a ball, saving energy in its dormant mode.

"I'm a thief at heart," Dark reminded, plopping onto the bed. "This way they won't have any record of us staying here."

"Maybe that's for the best," she conceded, setting the sleeping golem down on a table. She rummaged through her coat pockets before presenting Dark with a small pouch. "These are some first aids I carry around. Brace yourself, I'm about to deactivate Time Record."

Blood stained the bed sheets as the injuries returned all at once. Dark fisted the beddings and took the first aids from Miranda. Gritting his teeth, he opened the pouch and emptied it onto the bed. A pair of tweezers caught his eye and he groaned. Unfurling his ruffled wings, he grudgingly turned to face a pale faced Miranda.

"I'm going to need your help," he mumbled.

"Pardon?" she squeaked, eyes glued to his extra limbs.

Dark hesitated for a few seconds before handing her the tweezers and stretching his right wing in front of himself. He gestured over his shoulder and explained, "There are splinters and shrapnel stuck in the joint between my wings and shoulders. I can't reach them and using magic would be a waste of energy."

"So you need me to pull them out?" she confirmed, taking the tweezers.

Dark didn't reply and pulled his legs into an Indian sit. He maneuvered himself until he was facing the bed's headboard. With his back to Miranda he spread his wings as wide as they would go and sighed, "Exorcist, would you _please_ help me...?"

"Please, call me Miranda," the jittery exorcist prompted. Taking a closer look at the thief's wings she saw smaller feathers closer to the joint where limb connected to tattoo. They were a ruby red, with a darker vein running through the centers and a striking contrast from the larger ebony feathers that covered the rest of the wing. "A-are the red feathers meant to be there?"

"Red?" Dark parroted. "Those must be Dai's feathers. Don't worry about them; they're just newly grown. The magic I'm using for the disguise just doesn't work on them."

"Is this an...illusion?" Miranda asked, plucking out the splinters that jutted out from clumps of displaced feathers.

"Look _exorcist_," Dark intoned. Miranda's hand slipped at the harsh tone he'd used and clipped a short red feather by accident. Tiny drops of fresh blood dripped from the sheared feather's stub as the female exorcist panicked. The thief plucked the stub out and turned to his harried companion.

"I don't like you," he continued. "You're an exorcist, one of the self-righteous idiots that got Daisuke sucked into this war. He may trust you to some extent, but I don't. So don't expect me to blurt out explanations or spill my life's story to you."

"...I understand," Miranda said softly, continuing to pluck.

She looked miserable. Dirtied from the after-effects of the fight and dejected by his blatant exclamation of distrust, Dark almost felt a _bit_ bad for being such an ass. She WAS helping him after all. Turning his back on her, he breathed deep and crossed his arms. "It's not an illusion. This is how I'd look if I had a body of my own."

"But how?" she asked despite herself.

"Magic," Dark replied as if it explained everything, and to him, it did. "For what it's worth, if it weren't for your job, you'd probably be harder to hate."

"If it weren't for this job," she started. "My life would have been stuck at a standstill."

Dark didn't respond to that, but abruptly changed topics instead. "Go ahead and call headquarters. I can take care of the rest myself."

The female exorcist looked like she was about to protest but thought better of it. She sat at the table and fiddled with her golem, leaving Dark to nurse his wounds in relative silence.

Sighing, the thief peeled off the heavily stained coat and lacerated dress shirt beneath it. He gingerly touched the gash that ran along his left side and winced. It was long but shallow; the blood was already starting to clot. The other nicks and cuts that littered his frame were deeper and more pressing.

Dark pulled the stained sheets closer and tore them into haphazard strips. He wrapped his home-made bandages around the worst of the bleeding and turned to the pile of medicine he'd dumped. Sifting through the first aid supplies, Dark found a tin of salve and popped it open. It had a sort of astringent odour laced with herbs and old feet. Not to mention the puke mustard yellow color it had...

_**Ewwww**__,_ he thought to himself as he inched his fingertips closer to the tin.

_That's not a very manly thing to be doing,_ commented a groggy voice in his head.

_**Oh you're awake.**_

_Yeah, but where are we? And where are Allen and Lavi?_

_**We're still at Riverport, in a local inn. The white-haired exorcist told me to leave with her, **_Dark replied, dunking two fingers into the salve and slathering it on. Pointing to Miranda he elaborated, _**She's calling for back-up.**_

_But weren't we in the middle of a battle?_

_**It was his idea Dai, not mine, **_Dark reasoned, wincing as the salve seeped into the open wounds. _**Besides, there's some sort of ceasefire right now. The akuma took the other two to the mayor's place.**_

_Have you learned anything new?_

_**No, and it's a bit too late to go digging around for information now. They're on high-alert now that they know we're here.**_

_I think I know someone who can help us._

_**I know what you're thinking Dai, but are you sure we'll be able to get there? We won't be the only one in the skies tonight.**_

_We'll manage. Miranda will have trouble keeping up though..._

_**Che, and we can't take advantage of her innocence without drawing the akuma to us.**_

_The old fashioned way then._

Dark sent his tamer a wave of irritation at the extra work that would cause before surrendering control of the body to him. _**At least things are getting more interesting.**_

_What's with the change of heart? _Daisuke thought as he scooped the first aid supplies back into the pouch. He folded in his wings before standing up. _You don't seem as violent towards Miranda as you were before your tantrum._

_**That was NOT a tantrum, **_Dark stressed. _**I was just giving myself time to think. And she's still an exorcist, Dai. I don't trust her.**_

_You'll have to learn to._

_**We'll have to talk about this some other time, **_he said. Footsteps sounded in the hallway as Dark retreated from Daisuke's mind.

"Ms. Miranda?" Daisuke called.

"Dark?" Her head snapped up as he called. No, Dark wouldn't have been so polite _or_ have used her first name. Crimson eyes met hers as she looked up at the still-purple haired youth. "Daisuke?"

"Yes," he affirmed. Dressing himself in his tattered shirt and exorcist coat he apologized. "I'm sorry for any trouble Dark has given you. He doesn't seem to like exorcists."

Miranda smiled and waved off his worry. "It's fine Daisuke; he's explained himself to me."

"That's great," Daisuke smiled, walking over to her. "Have you been able to call for help?"

"Yes," she answered. "There was some kind of interruption but I'm sure they've gotten the message."

"Good," he said, handing her the first aid pouch. "Because we have to get out of here."

"What? Why?"

"The akuma are looking for us," the Niwa replied. "We have to keep moving."

"But where will we go?"

"To the local pub," he announced. Daisuke held his right hand up and let magic slowly seep into the tips of his fingers, dusting his palm with a faint red glow. "But just in case, you need a disguise."

An uncomfortable prickling sensation wracked Miranda's body as Daisuke cast the illusion. Her form wavered, shifting and contorting until she was unrecognizable. In moments, a shorter, younger person stood where Miranda Lott once was. She had chestnut brown hair, cropped above the shoulder, falling across her forehead in uneven bangs. The illusion had lightened her eyes to a bright chocolate brown and cut her height by three or four inches. She wore a startled expression on her face as the lingering pins and needles faded.

"Perfect," the Niwa approved. "No one should recognize you now."

Miranda startled and brought her hands to her face. "It...doesn't feel any different."

"It is only an illusion," Daisuke reminded. "I only have enough skill to cast optical illusions, so you only _look_ different. It is confusing and complicated to explain, but try not to let anyone touch you. You are physically the same person."

"I think I understand...," Miranda nodded, threading her hands through her hair wonderingly. "But, who am I disguised as?"

"A person who was—_is_ very important to me." Emotion flashed in Daisuke's eyes as he answered, vanishing before Miranda had a chance to notice. He bundled up the remains of the ruined bed sheets and tucked them under one arm. "I am sorry, but we can't talk about these things right now. There are suspicious people in the halls."

As if on cue, a loud abrasive voice called behind their closed door. "OI, OPEN UP! This room's supposed to be empty!"

"Let's go Ms. Miranda," Daisuke beckoned, opening the window once more. He balanced on the windowsill for a while before leaping out. The creak of bent wood sounded, followed by two hollow thumps on the ceiling. Miranda stepped up to the window to see the sheets snaking into her view. The Niwa's dismembered voice followed soon after. "Grab hold Ms. Miranda, I'll pull you up."

Miranda gripped at the cloth until her knuckles turned white. She was hauled out of the room just as their door was broken down. Half a dozen more pulls later and the unlucky exorcist was sitting safely on the roof next to a tense Daisuke.

"Ms. Miranda, I am going to have to carry you," he declared, offering his back to her. "We'll get to the pub faster that way."

"But Daisuke, you're injured!" she exclaimed.

"The akuma could not touch my back," Daisuke informed, gesturing at the tailored slits on his coat. "The innocence prevented any injury there."

Giving in to the Niwa's reassurances, Miranda clambered on and was perched piggy-back style. "Are we flying?"

"No, the skies are too crowded with akuma," he replied, facing the roof's slanted edge. Suddenly, Daisuke broke into a run. "Hold on tight Ms. Miranda."

And then he sprang...

...again and again and again.

They hopped from rooftop to rooftop. Each landing was fluid and each leap was sure. It was then that Miranda decided that flying was NOT the worst possible mode of transport.

The city was dimly lit. Only a few scattered, sputtering lamps adorned the streets, paling in comparison to the dazzling stretch of light that Daisuke was heading towards.

"That is the red light district," Daisuke explained in between jumps. "The pub is a short walk from it, we'll be there shortly."

He veered off the rooftops and bounced off a nearby tree before landing softly in a snow-dusted side alley. Letting Miranda down, Daisuke ventured out onto the street and took scope of their surroundings. He returned a minute later with a serious expression on his face. "There are few people on the streets. They must have learnt that nightfall is a dangerous time to be wandering."

"Is the pub still open?" she asked.

"I can't tell from here," he reported. "Let us go Ms. Miranda, and remember, do not let people touch the illusion."

The two exorcists stepped onto the main street, unnoticed and ignored by the meagre amount of pedestrians. Daisuke led her to a moderately sized building whose door was barred by a blocky looking man who looked up them as they ambled towards him.

He stepped aside as they approached, flashing a toothy smile. "Evening to you, travelers."

_**Looks like my face is enough to get you inside without starting a fight.**_

_I don't think that's anything to be proud about._

They made their way to the bar, with Daisuke sitting directly in front of the painting he and Allen had seen earlier. Miranda sat nervously to his left, glancing around at the other customers seated behind them. There weren't many, and the few who weren't passed out were shady looking characters.

The barkeep ambled over to them, polishing a glass with a dirty looking rag (Daisuke wondered if those were the same ones from his last visit). "What business does the order have sending so many exorcists down here?"

_**...aww damn Dai, you forgot about the clothes.**_

Daisuke ignored his curse and addressed the barkeep. "I suggest you tell everyone else to leave."

"And why should I?"

"Because," the Niwa started. "I am about to do something that the mayor will most likely disagree with."

"That accent...," the older man murmured.

_**Strike two, Dai.**_

"Sir," Miranda said tentatively. "If you do as he says then we might be able to help the town."

Seconds ticked by as the barkeep stared at them, a pensive look in his eyes. He set his glass down onto the counter with a resounding clunk. "This better be worth it exorcists."

Turning to face the exit, the old man gave an abrupt shout. The burly bouncer clambered in through the door the next second. "What's up Boss?"

"We're closing early today," the barkeep replied gruffly. "Clear out and close up."

The pub emptied a few intimidating glares and empty threats later. The barkeep tossed his rag and pulled up a chair across the exorcists. "So what do you have to offer, exorcists?"

"We can stop the monsters from coming out at night," Daisuke stated.

"What's the catch?" the barkeep asked.

"C-catch?" Miranda stuttered.

"Everythin' in this world's got a catch," the bouncer recited.

"But we're not asking for anything in return...," she started.

"...just that you let us use that portrait," Daisuke finished.

"That's a tall order," the barkeep said.

Daisuke leaned over the counter and looked into the barkeep's tired bloodshot eyes. "We have payment."

_**Are you actually going to do it?**_

The barkeep huffed and leaned back on his chair, drawing away from Daisuke's gaze. "I'm not interested in your money."

_**The only people who should see this are the Niwas and the Hikaris.**_

Ruby eyes shone crimson as Daisuke spoke. "I can let you see your wife again."

_**Someone's**__** feeling rebellious.**_

_I learned from the best._

The barkeep sighed and slumped in his seat. "You better be serious about this..."

"Dead serious," Daisuke declared, getting up and sliding over the counter. The bouncer tensed as the Niwa stood next to his boss. "Do we have a deal?"

"Only if you can keep your end of the bargain," the barkeep said disbelief apparent in his voice. "Let me see my wife again and you can do whatever you want to the painting as long as you don't destroy it."

"Thank you," Daisuke said with a smile.

Hopping back over the counter, Daisuke busied himself with the chairs and tables, rearranging them to make space in the center of the room. "Mr. Bouncer," he called, for lack of better name. "Could you take the painting down now?"

It took a reinforcing order from his boss to get the bouncer to obey, and soon the portrait was propped up on a chair in the middle of the room. Daisuke knelt in front of the painting, levelling his eyes with those of the painted woman's. He drew a small paring knife from his pocket and wedged it carefully between the canvas and frame. The work was meticulous, but Daisuke finished quickly, movements deft and experienced. He pried the wooden frame off carefully, handing it over to a watching Miranda.

So the portrait sat bare on the dingy bar chair, mundane and ordinary to everyone in the room except for Daisuke. Because the Niwa knew, he knew that a soul resided in this artwork. The same way he had known about _The Maiden's Song_ and _The Second Hand of Time_. This was in his blood; this is what the Niwas did.

Daisuke pressed his thumb lightly on his paring knife's blade, drawing beads of blood from the digit. Pushing away the distressed gasps and mutterings Miranda was sputtering, he pressed his bleeding finger to the portrait and smeared it in an inch long smudge.

The Niwa closed his eyes and felt Dark's magic inside him, swirling and mixing with his own. Sending silent thanks to his curse for the boost, Daisuke took a breath and let the magic flow.

A wisp stemmed from the blood stain, bright and fleeting as the magic settled in. It spread hurriedly, as if eager to release the spirit that the portrait beheld. Before long, the magic had saturated the portrait, glowing bright red laced with dark black. Then suddenly, the magic poured out, wisp by wisp.

At first, the shape they formed was insubstantial, but as a minute passed it moulded itself into the likeness of the barkeep's wife. The glow from Daisuke's magic died down, revealing the portrait's soul, bathed in its own ethereal light. The woman was dressed in a simple cream coloured blouse and dark brown skirt, a poppy nestled daintily in her hair. She looked exactly like she had in the painting; time had done nothing to her soul.

Daisuke stepped aside as the barkeep inched his way towards his late wife, a different kind of disbelief in his eyes.

"Could you give the boss a minute?" the bouncer asked the two exorcists, taking the frame from Miranda. "This is private; you can go into the backroom."

"Of course," Daisuke replied, taking his fellow exorcist by the arm and leading her away.

Once they were shut away in the moderately sized room, Miranda spoke up. "What do you plan to do with that painting?"

"I am going to use it to get into the Mayor's house," he answered. "But I can't take you with me."

"Daisuke, we shouldn't split up," she cautioned. "And don't forget that you're _still_ injured."

"I know, but the...method of transport I am about to use is dangerous," Daisuke explained. "I've never even done it with another person, and if something goes wrong you might never come back out. Besides, someone needs to meet the reinforcements when they arrive."

"You should stay and wait with me," Miranda urged. "If there's one thing I've learned in the Order, it's to trust in your comrades. Have faith in Allen and Lavi, they're strong enough to take care of themselves."

Daisuke frowned and shook his head. "It is not that I don't have faith in them. There's just something in the mayor's home that I have to check on. I'll ask the painting to be sure. If she answers yes, then I go; if not, then I wait with you."

The door creaked open before Miranda could agree or disagree, the bouncer's head appearing around it. "The boss's lady wants to see you."

Filing out of the room, Daisuke and Miranda saw that the barkeep was seated, his wife's apparition standing next to him. He looked up as the exorcists approached. "How long can she stay like this?"

"Not long," the Niwa answered. "As soon as I leave she will go back into the portrait and as soon as everything settles down in this town, I'll ask her if she will allow me to seal her."

"What does that mean?" the barkeep asked, standing up.

"It means that her soul will be locked to the painting," Daisuke replied. "It will keep her from hurting anyone with the magic the painting will eventually accumulate over time."

"It's fine Tom," the painting breathed before the barkeep could protest. "The Niwa is here to help."

Daisuke stepped towards the portrait and smiled. "You know who I am, ma'am?"

"Yes," she responded, turning to face him. "You were right in guessing my age. I'm well over a hundred."

"How exactly did you get here?" Daisuke prodded.

"I was at an exhibit sometime in the future," she began. "I don't remember much aside from being stolen. I think it was one of the monsters who roam town at night. It was strangely dressed for that time period, almost looked like a knight!"

"A level three," Miranda whispered.

_So it was an akuma._

_**You don't think it's him do you?**_

_We can't be too sure. He's out there Dark. And if we know anything, it's that Krad always throws a tantrum when something goes wrong. He __is__ a reflection of you after all._

_**I can't believe you're comparing us...**_

The mental conversation was cut short as the painting continued. "But Niwa, I should let you know. They brought me to the mayor's house before bringing me back here, and I felt magic there that was similar to yours."

_It can't be..._

_**But if we're together, then it makes sense.**_

"I'm sorry Ms. Miranda but I have to go to the mayor now," Daisuke apologized, tapping her on the head and dispelling the illusion. He heard the barkeep and bouncer gasp as he did the same to himself. He didn't have enough magical energy to keep the illusions up from a distance.

"You're both going at this like the mayor's the criminal here." the barkeep blurted. "How do we know that the two of you are the good guys? The exorcists are a shady bunch..."

"You have to trust us because you know about the akuma that have taken over your town," Miranda spoke up, trying hard not to stutter. She looked the barkeep in the eye and gave a reassuring smile. "And you know that we're your only hope against them. Please sir, I promise we're doing this for yours and your town's sakes."

"Can you keep my friend safe until our back up arrives?" Daisuke asked, shocked and at Miranda's burst of confidence. She'd always seemed like such a reserved woman, not the type of person you would expect to meet in a war.

"That wasn't in the deal...," the barkeep mumbled.

His wife sent him a surprisingly nasty glare before replying for him. "Don't worry, she's safe here. Just make sure that you run that mayor out of town!"

A determined look settled on Daisuke's face as he held his hand out. "I'll do my best."

_**Are you sure you can trust them with her?**_

_They seem like good people and the painting can't lie to us. __Someone's__ starting to care._

_**I hang around too many saps like you. Besides, I owe her for the medicine.**_

"Daisuke," Miranda called, holding the first aid pouch out. "Take this with you; it could be useful if anyone's injured. Good luck."

"Thank you Ms. Miranda," Daisuke said. Turning to the wife he gestured to the painted canvas. "Ladies first."

She gave her husband a last farewell before stepping lightly back into her portrait. Daisuke gave Miranda an encouraging wave before following suit.

* * *

Note: Concrit and reviews are greatly appreciated ;) I'd like some feedback on my dialogue. Those are the hardest parts for me to write because I find everything I put down to sound so cliche. Any comment would make my day :D


	12. Chapter 10: The Paradox Town IV

Note: Ok, so a few days off the end of August but this is early for me :D ODW's turning a year old guys :'( *sniff* If you read Percy Jackson and the Olympians, one of the reasons I didn't get this up by August is the fic I wrote for it. Check it out if you're bored enough (no this ISN'T shameless advertising.)

"(THIS IS JAPANESE, though you'd probably have figured that out.)"

**CHATPER 10 : THE PARADOX TOWN IV**

A man walked down the shadowed halls of Riverport Manor. He'd only taken this job because of a bet his drinking buddies set up. It was either work at the mayor's house or streak naked across his girlfriend's street three times. Seeing as it was the middle of winter, he'd opted for the government job. So far, it had been the worst decision of his life.

Not only was the entire building openly haunted by freaking _demons_, but he'd been sworn to secrecy under death threat. Never mind the fact that he only got enough pay to stay alive; there wasn't even any booze in this damned prison!

He groaned heavily and sagged into a downtrodden hunch, the buttons on his shirt protesting against his beer belly. "WHY did I ever agree to take this stupid job?"

"Why indeed?"

"Wha—"

A sharp pain flared from the base of his neck and the poor unfortunate guard fell like a sack of bricks, his face colliding heavily with the cold stone floor. Stepping out of the intricately carved frame he'd been sitting in, the assailant walked over to the unconscious body and began to frisk.

_**Hey Dai, I think you broke his nose.**_

_CLICK_

_There, I reset it. Does that look right to you?_

_**Doesn't matter, he didn't have any looks to begin with.**_

Daisuke unfortunately found nothing useful on the fallen man's belt and hauled him over to the nearest empty room. Unlocking the door, he saw that the room was a cross between a broom closet, a furnace hold and a storage area. Cleaning rags were folded into a neat pile in a corner across from crates of trading goods and several well worn mops. Daisuke scanned the dingy walls for anything that could be useful, his eyes catching on several cords of rope.

Sighing, the Niwa dumped the guard unceremoniously onto the soot-stained floor. He took the rope and squatted next to his pudgy victim, stripping the unlucky man to his grimy underwear before tying him up.

_I hate doing this..._

_**Why? You've probably done it lots of times.**_

_It still feels so WRONG to be undressing another guy like this._

_**So you're saying if it were a girl, it'd be ok?**_

_Shut up Dark, _he thought vehemently as he gagged the incredibly unlucky guard with rags.

A few minutes later, and out stepped a disguised Daisuke. His exorcist's coat was stuffed under the tan uniformed shirt he now wore. He'd slipped the loose, brown-black trousers over his stupidly tight leather pants and dusted his hair with soot until its color changed.

_**You **__**could**__** just use magic.**_

_Not if I'm going to see Allen; his cursed eye cancels illusions on sight._

Taking a deep breath, Daisuke slouched inward and plodded down the halls. According to the painting he'd entered from (a pompous looking knight on a fat pony), no one would bother him because akuma were forbidden to kill any of the few human guards that worked in the manor. The _only_ reason humans were here was to offset any suspicions from the townspeople. Long story short, getting around should be easy enough if he kept a low profile, easy enough.

"Psssssssssssssssst!"

Ok, maybe not.

"," the voice continued in a strained whisper.

Daisuke slowed to a stop and turned to the sound with deliberate stiffness. His eyes met a tensed, skittish man who looked to be in his late twenties. Dressed in a worn-out, snow-dusted coat (which must have been green at some point), he bore a frantic look in his eyes, as if he'd just escaped from something. The Niwa suppressed the rising panic in him, peering at his new companion through half-lidded, uninterested eyes. Human guards were all unarmed (to eradicate any feelings of dissent), so from the look of the foot long dagger sheathed at the man's hip, he wasn't an employee of the manor.

"Listen," he rasped, his voice rough and scratchy as if it hadn't been used for long time. "I'm here for a jail break. If you hate your job in this godforsaken hellhole then you'll help me."

"What makes you so special?" Dark asked, chafing obtrusively against Daisuke's consciousness. Amethyst pooled over crimson irises as he took over. "Why do _you_ think you can set the prisoners free?"

_Dark! What're you doing?_

The mystery man held a clenched hand up and flashed a toothy grin. Uncurling his fingers, Dark and Daisuke saw that a ring of shiny silver keys resting in the man's calloused palm. "I've got the keys to the manor."

Before Dark could even nod, the keys were chucked at him. Dark deftly snatched the jingling keys out of the air and gripped them tightly, thanking his lucky stars. Daisuke on the other hand, wondered if this coincidence was really just that. Paranoia muddled his thoughts as the man who stood expectantly in front of them caught his breath. Could Krad (because he was _sure_ that the former white angel was here) have sensed them coming?

"Well?" the man pressed, peering at Daisuke through overgrown dirty blonde locks.

_Dark don't._

"Well what?"

"Are you going to help me or what?" he asked impatiently. The dagger was now slightly unsheathed and glinted menacingly. "We humans have to look out for each other, those akuma are nasty creatures. But I can't have anyone knowing I'm here, so if you don't come with me then..."

"No need for that," Dark said affably to the man. Holding his hands up in what he hoped looked like a soothing gesture, he added. "I'll go with you; do you know where the dungeons are?"

_But we don't know who he is or how he got here!_

_**Details, details. We've got the same objective in mind. Fighting with him would take time and energy and he seems to know his way around.**_

_Oh really? How do you figure?_

_**Well he's still alive isn't he? After making his way through the old fashioned way too. **_Dark felt sparks of irritation in their mindscape as his host gave into the logic. _**I love it when I'm right.**_

The dagger disappeared into its sheath almost immediately as the man's grin widened. "Of course I know where they are. What imbecile would come for a rescue mission and not know where the dungeons are?"

_**This imbecile sure would.**_

_Shut up Dark...something's weird with him, I just can't place it._

"Lead the way then," Dark prompted, yet again ignoring his tamer. "It's nice to be working with you Mister...?"

"Quentin," the man replied, his never-ending grin growing. Quentin walked briskly past Dark and motioned for him to follow. "You?"

"Kaitou," the thief answered.

_Dark, his teeth are __pointed__._

_**So? We've got wings; not everyone's perfect, Dai. When you're in unfamiliar territory, you take any ally you can get.**_

They walked in silent procession through stuffy corridors and endless stairs. An awkward silence draped over the two as Quentin led them away from the occasional stray akuma that prowled the halls. By their fourth flight of stairs, Daisuke began to notice a few things.

_If we've gone down four flights of stairs, then that means we must have met Quentin on the fourth floor. How exactly did he sneak onto the fourth floor?_

_**We **__**could**__**be in the fourth floor of the basement.**_

_But there was a window on the level we just came from._

_**Stop over thinking things Dai. So he got in through some shady method, walked into a painting.**_

_But..._

_**What? **_ Daisuke's worry and concern were beginning to trickle into Dark. When two people share one mind, feelings and emotions bounced around like ping pong balls. Specific thoughts and memories were things that the subconscious could keep hidden, shielded from the other occupant's view, but the here and now that Daisuke _felt_; it was as if the anxiety was Dark's own.

_Dark, how does he know what the akuma are?_

And then everything turned to black.

* * *

_Kill_

_Kill_

_Kill_

A flooded wasteland spread as far as the eye could see, crumbling ruins and wracked structures scattered throughout. The air reverberated with a droning noise, a monosyllabic mantra that repeated on an endless loop.

_Kill_

_Kill_

_Kill_

Allen lay despondent, draped over a pile of rubble, an irritated expression plastered onto his face. His eye was playing tricks on him again. Its undying lust for akuma blood plagued his dreams at least twice a week. The desolate landscape had depressed him at first but now it was just downright annoying.

_Allen_

Well that was new.

"Mana?" Allen called, propping himself up. This had only happened once before if he'd remembered right. Back when he'd had business with the Noahs.

_Allen, the thief can't be trusted._

His adoptive father's voice was layered over the monotonous canon in the background. It seemed to come from everywhere, even when Allen could plainly see Mana balancing sombrely on a blown up rubber ball. A sombre Mana? That wasn't right...

"Mana, what do you mean?"

_Can't be trusted._

"The thief?"

_Can't be trusted._

Mana's wobbly form distorted, dying itself black as his features melted away.

"Mana WAIT!"

His clown's face was replaced with hollow eyes and a crooked smile. The blackness that was now his body swirled and wisped as if it were gaseous. The shadow of the 14th cackled at Allen and his blank expression.

"The thief...Daisuke?"

_CAN'T BE TRUUUUUSTED~,_ came the cackling reply.

Allen snapped his eyes open as the last vestiges of the 14th's guffaws faded out of his mind. A miniature hand was poking him in the eye as its owner gnawed on Allen's head. Thanking Tim for waking him up (after struggling to yank his jaws open), Allen surveyed is surroundings fretfully, noting Lavi's familiar silhouette back lighted from the firey glow seeping through the door.

"Is he back yet?" Allen asked, remembering that he'd fallen asleep waiting for their newest companion.

Right after brief introductions, guards had come waltzing into their cell and had taken Hiwatari away. The blue-haired teen had been gagged, blindfolded and shackled before being brought out. Naturally, the exorcists decided to wait for their new friend before breaking out. Hiwatari after all, _did_ know a lot about the manor and its occupants despite all the caution they seemed to be taking with him.

Lavi stayed glued to where he was, his one uncovered eye peering through the keyhole. "Nope, but we're lucky he left as quickly as he did, didn't even have time to notice your eye. Imagine what kind of a first impression that would have made. No offense."

The soft _click, click, click_ of the cursed eye's clockwork bounced off the stone walls in response. Allen smiled to himself and waved the comment off. "None taken."

Suddenly, Lavi scrambled away from the door. It creaked open moments later, with a disgruntled looking Hiwatari dumped in.

"That was odd," Hiwatari muttered to himself as the door slammed shut, locks clicking into place. His eyes fluttered as they readjusted to the cell's darkness.

"Do they usually just cuff you?" Lavi asked as he eyed the red welts the chains had left on Hiwatari's arms. "It _did_ seem like overkill."

"No that was normal," the blue-head remarked coolly. "But I usually spend hours explaining the technology to them."

"So they sent you down early?" Allen supplied. "Do you have any idea why?"

"I there's a rumour going around that intruders have broken in," he answered absent-mindedly. Hiwatari bit on his thumb, thought lines marring his face. "But that can't be possible. I've passed a law forbidding anyone from coming within a two kilometre radius."

The exorcists glanced pointedly at each other, a quiet conversation of contorted facial expressions and hushed mutterings passing between them.

Hiwatari watched them silently, not knowing what to think about these 'apostles of god'. They hadn't done anything to trust or distrust yet. Lavi's mop of bright red hair (or what little he saw as the two exorcists were thrown in) reminded him of a certain thief who had gone missing around a year before Hiwatari was whisked into this era.

Daisuke Niwa had told him of the failed attempt to revive his half of Kokuyoku...and the frightful nightmares that followed them. Even after the dreams stopped coming, strange accidents happened to anyone who was close to Daisuke. They'd started small, a shallow scrape or a twisted ankle, but slowly got worse. After Riku's traffic accident (where she'd been knocked unconscious for two days) Hiwatari knew what the Niwa wanted to do and waited for him to voice his plan.

But Daisuke left without warning.

He deserted his friends, his family and his life, and slipped out of Azumano in the middle of the night. All he'd left behind was a letter, riddled with apologies and explanations.

The Niwas put up a calm, borderline stoic, facade to their youngest's departure. Reassured by his parting words, they reasoned that Daisuke was safe out there...or at least they clung desperately to that thought like a life line.

Riku on the other hand hadn't been as composed at her boyfriend's abandonment (now there's an understatement).

_SLAM_

The door lingered open for a while, flooding the shadowed dungeon with flickering torchlight yet again. They watched through squinted eyes as a couple of level two akuma floated in, shouldering another body between them. The body was dumped callously onto the ground, its silver accented exorcist's coat and bushy red hair illuminated momentarily by the still-open door.

"Hey Mayor," the akuma sneered before shutting the door. "The Master mentioned you might like to meet this one."

And once again the cell was drowned in darkness, the frantic scrambling of its occupants made all the more difficult by their temporary blindness.

"Daisuke!"

The exorcists crouched at their comrade's side as Hiwatari watched in uncharacteristic shock. How the HELL could Niwa be here?

"He's fine," Lavi informed them as he gave Daisuke a check. "All the blood on his coat's old and dried; probably form the fight we had before coming in here. I think they've cuffed him though."

"Do you think he's been hit with akuma poisoning?" Allen asked worriedly. Remembering that the thief wasn't completely immune to the poison, he added. "He doesn't deal with it too well despite being a parasite-type."

"Mnngggghh," Daisuke groaned. He cracked open his ruby red eyes and blinked repeatedly. "Allen? Where are we?"

"You're in the Mayor's Manor," Hiwatari replied, waiting to see if the Niwa would recognize him.

Daisuke shot up, with an expression of complete disbelief slapped onto his face. Metal chinked as he struggled against the manacles before he huffed and rolled into a sitting position, whipping his head toward the bespectacled teen. He warbled a hurried something to Hiwatari that Allen couldn't quite understand. It wasn't until Hiwatari replied in clear, unruffled tones that the white-haired exorcist realized that the two were speaking in a different language.

"Japanese," Lavi supplied leaning back into an Indian sit. His mouth set into a pinched line as he wondered out loud: "What a lucky coincidence these two know each other."

"(I didn't want to leave...)"

"(Harada didn't see it that way.)"

Lavi sighed deeply as the two Japanese teens continued their foreign conversation. Turning to Allen he asked, "Do you think we can get some light in here?"

Nodding, Allen palmed his golden golem and held it at arm's length. "Tim, could you bring up the 14th's score for me?"

Opening its mouth impossibly wide, Timcampy shone iridescent as it projected a swirling mess of notes and characters only Allen could read.

"Sorry to interrupt," Lavi apologized, gingerly lifting Tim off Allen's hand. "But we need to check if Daisuke's injured."

"I'm fine," Daisuke reassured him, switching back to English and rubbing at his slightly scabbed cuts. Fuzzy shadows fell from the cell's occupants as they waited for the obvious question to arise.

"So," the bookman started, figuring that Allen was way too polite to ask. "How do you two know each other?"

"We're old friends," Hiwatari answered. His glasses gleamed under Tim's dim light as he added. "I met Niwa in his line of work."

"Krad is here. He's the akuma I fought on the heist where you caught me," Daisuke burst out suddenly. By saying 'akuma' in front of Hiwatari and 'heist' in front of the exorcists, the Niwa had basically disclosed supposedly top-secret information between them. Plus, they had Krad as a common enemy. Now, he reasoned, they _had_ to trust each other...right?

"You caught him?" Hiwatari asked the exorcists in disbelief. Facing them, he realized this was the first time he'd seen them not cloaked in darkness. They both wore the same coat Daisuke had donned (leading Hiwatari to deduce that the Niwa had recently changed professions) and seemed to have something wrong with their eyes. Lavi's right eye was completely covered with an eye patch while Allen's left had a floating...mechanical (gear?) clicking away above it. Having seen stranger things in life, Hiwatari chose to take the high road and simply ignore these two rather odd characteristics.

Daisuke frowned briefly, his relatively small ego bruised. "(There were a few things that came up.)"

"Um...yes we did," Allen replied cautiously, wondering why the bluenette hadn't asked about his cursed eye yet. "He sent a warning card, so it wasn't hard to prepare an ambush."

"All we had to do was watch the skies," Lavi said nonchalantly, watching for a reaction (or lack thereof).

Hiwatari nodded curtly, accepting the fact that Daisuke had apparently made a name for himself the only way he knew how. What bothered him though (besides the fact that the exorcists seemed to know everything about their magic), was Daisuke's reservoir of magic. It was almost non-existent even before Kokuyoku had been sealed. How exactly was the Niwa now able to grow wings on his own? Doubting if Daisuke had even thought about the disparity before and deciding that now was not the time or place to be discussing such things, Hiwatari resolved to ask the thief once they escaped. For now, he had to trust these exorcists that Daisuke had involved himself with (the Niwa after all, had proved to be a good judge of character).

Lavi, disappointed by Hiwatari's typical composed attitude, turned to easier riled targets. "So Daisuke, I hope you haven't left Miranda all by her lonesome."

His frown deepening, Daisuke squirmed under the bookman's one-eyed gaze. "I left her at a pub under the guard of an old man and his century old painting..."

**Geez Dai that sounded horrible even from my end. Not much of a PR person are you?**

"A painting's guarding her..." Lavi trailed off.

"This wouldn't happen to be the pub we visited earlier would it?" Allen questioned. At Daisuke's nod he continued, "The pub with the grumpy barkeep who didn't seem to like exorcists and kicked us out?"

More nods.

Allen sighed deeply at his 'apprentice'. "Did she at least call for back-up already?"

"Yes," Daisuke answered dejectedly. "But they had not yet arrived when I left."

"Then we have to focus on breaking out of here," Lavi interjected. A mischievous grin spread on his face as he continued. "If we make a big enough distraction here, then the back-up can get to Miranda without any trouble."

"Ah!" Daisuke exclaimed, as if remembering something. He shuffled over to the closest person to him, namely Hiwatari, and mumbled something in rapid Japanese. Reaching into one of Daisuke's coat pockets, Hiwatari pulled out a medium sized white pouch with a fat red cross stitched onto it. He dug into it, retrieved a pair of fine pointed tweezers and placed them in Daisuke's waiting hand. Smiling, the Niwa thanked his friend with a quiet 'arigato' and got to work.

"What's he doing?" Allen asked.

"His hands are bound by a chain that's held in place with a padlock," Hiwatari replied.

Lavi hmm-ed to himself and quipped up, "Not a good idea?"

Allowing himself a small smile, Hiwatari responded: "As a thief, locks were his specialty, second only to his disguises."

The chains dropped from Daisuke's forearms with a sonorous _CLANG. _Massaging the soreness out of his wrists, he asked. "Have you tried breaking down the door with innocence yet?"

"The innocence doesn't even scratch it," Allen answered, sending a cautious glance Hiwatari's way. With all the information this guy knew, he'd have to go into the Order now. Sigh, maybe they had room for another finder. "Crown Clown doesn't anyway."

"I told him not to use any flashy techniques," Lavi mentioned. "If he destroys the basement, then the entire castle might come crumbling down on flimsy infrastructure. In fact that may be the whole reason why we got a special cell _underground_. And since they took my hammer away, we don't have any way to prove that they have a seal immune to all innocence. It's probably some form of Dark Matter, but since you're here Daisuke, why don't you try some of your magic?"

"I think I have exhausted my magic. And I can only do illusions and projectiles anyway," Daisuke answered. Turning deliberately to face Hiwatari he added. "Opening things like seals and portals calls for a more practiced hand."

Catching the not-so-subtle hint, Hiwatari crossed his arms and said, "(My magic has no focus in its current state.)"

"(So all you need is a focus?)" Daisuke prodded, slipping into his preferred dialect. He reached into another coat pocket and withdrew a lumpy cylindrical roll of leather. Setting it on the ground, Daisuke untied the string that held it shut and unravelled it...exposing the intricately designed art instruments within. Pointing a silver-handled brush to Hiwatari, Daisuke smiled. "(I've brought you a present from home, Hiwatari-kun.)"

* * *

Note: Hmm...short chapter with some answers but more questions! Shit's going down next chap, since y'know Dai and Co. meet the big bad of this arc :D Reviews are loved~!

**ALSO**

Remember how in the last chapter we had this mental conversation between our intrepid protagonists?

_It can't be..._

_**But if we're together, then it makes sense.**_

Yeaaaahh, turns out they weren't talking about Krad at all! Dai's had some suspicions about thisever since Krad first popped up, that's how he had the tools up his sleeve._**  
**_


End file.
